Black Velvet
by Emerald Twin Blade
Summary: AU Halloween. Sora's never felt like he's belonged in Destiny Islands... What happens when he meets a Vampire named Riku and follows him to another place? No... a whole nother world? Shounenai! SoraRiku, AxelRoxas, CloudLeon. -HIATUS-
1. 00: StandOut

**Disclaimer:** I do **_not_** own Kingdom Hearts or any of the characters seen in the game of whom appear in this fic. 'Cause if I did, like other Yaoi fans, I'd have locked Kairi on the other side of the Door of Darkness and left Riku and Sora to stay together on the Destiny Islands.

**A**nyway! Here's my first KH2 fic, so don't blame me if I messed a few things up. I messed Sora up a _lot_ in this chapter. xD! Anyway, get on with it.

* * *

**Black Velvet**

_A Kingdom Hearts 2 Halloween_

By Emerald Twin Blade

* * *

**: Fragment No. 0 :**

_**Stand-Out**_

"Vampires, Werewolves, Zombies, Ghosts, and other Monsters… They're usually seen in Horror films, and especially seen out on Halloween. Humans dress up as these abnormal creatures on the Halloween holiday… but exactly how many of them are the _real thing_?

"Yes, you heard correctly… _How many are the real thing_? These beasts are existent; you just can't tell them apart from the rest of us… or you're just not looking in the right place.

"It's said that Vampires don't like the Light, and this much _is_ true, however, they actually _can_ come out during the day. They just have to be in their seemingly-_'ordinary'_ forms. Same for Werewolves… They're normal people outwardly, but they can will themselves to change whenever they choose… When the full moon is out, though, they don't have a choice _but_ to change. Zombies and Ghosts are similar to each other… A Zombie is the animation of a dead corpse, whereas a Ghost is the Spirit that once inhabited it. In the end, they're all monsters that frighten many people…

"It's still hard to tell… Who are the _real_ humans, and who _aren't_… WAH!"

"AAAAH!!" screamed poor Selphie Tilmett, jumping in her seat and holding her hands to her chest reflexively.

Mr. Cid Highwind had been reading out of a book to the whole class, and then hastily hopped forward to scare the unsuspecting freshman. Everyone else, except for Selphie and two boys, burst into laughter at the scene that'd just taken place before them.

Sora Hikari sighed, having been sitting behind Selphie the whole time. He could see the trick coming from a mile away… It was why Cid kept staying in front of her the entire time he read, rather than moving about the rows of the desks like he usually did. He had his elbow on his desk, resting his chin in it as he watched uninterestedly as Selphie blushed embarrassedly at the rest of the class's laughter.

His brilliant shade of blue eyes looked over to the boy sitting beside the victimized girl. He wasn't laughing… but rather looked a bit sympathetic. Sora put his arm down and held his head up, causing his spiky brown hair to bounce a bit. A chocolate-colored eyebrow went up as he noticed how uncomfortable the two looked, and he decided he'd do something about it.

He rolled his eyes visibly, knowing full well that the teacher had an eye on him, and then mumbled audibly.

"What_ever_…"

This caused the class to fall silent and stare at him; Mr. Highwind merely smirked at him.

"What's with you, Hikari? 'Have a problem with the way I'm teaching my class?"

Sora glared at the adult who was obviously taking advantage of his superior position. Ever since he'd started going to Destiny High, he just didn't feel like he could fit in with everybody else. He was normally a happy person, but he was always a bit miffed by Cid Highwind picking on people, namely _Selphie_.

"No, not really… I just think that you should stop being a bully. Are you like this to other students, or is it just Selphie?"

Selphie turned around to look at him, a worried look on her face. She knew that he was standing up for her, but she didn't want him to get in trouble because of her…

The blonde who sat beside her, Tidus, also glared toward the teacher, "Yeah, I'd like to hear the answer to that, too!"

Mr. Highwind looked like his temper was building up as the two mouthed off to him. He had only just opened his mouth to yell at them, but the bell rang. He just froze; unable to move due to the surprise of how fast the class had just dashed out the door, Sora and Tidus included.

He growled, stomping his foot on the ground several times in a sad attempt to vent his anger, but it didn't work. In the end, he just started counting.

"1… 2… 3…"

* * *

Sora walked down the hallway, ignoring the hustle-and-bustle of all the other freshman around him. It was Tuesday, October 31st, 2006, and he had no clue why he was the onlyone wearing black. Well, he was _always_ the only one wearing black to school, but it wasn't something that he noticed right away. 

He was wearing a dark blue T-shirt with a black jacket over that and a pair of baggy black pants. There were several belts and buckles hanging from both his pants and his jacket, of the colors yellow and red. Fingerless black gloves were on his hands, and he wore enormous yellow shoes with black here-and-there.

He put his hands in his pockets, staring down at the ground as he walked. He always stood out of these crowds… and he didn't know why.

"Sora?"

He stopped, looking back over his shoulder with blinking blue eyes. There stood Selphie and Tidus, both smiling at him. He raised a knowing eyebrow at them, managing to grin back at his only two friends.

"What?"

"Thanks for… standing up for me back there." The girl thanked, bowing.

Her hair didn't move… and that struck Sora as a weird thing. Her hair went into huge outward curls, and they _didn't **move**_ whenever she did something. He decided not to think about it when he concluded that she probably used **way** too much hairspray.

"Hey, no problem… Ol' Cid's been messing with you for a while, now, hasn't he?"

A pathetic nod came from her as she gazed down at the floor before looking back up with the same smile as before.

Tidus watched the two before clearing his throat, taking this chance to change the subject, "Hey-uh-You going to the Halloween Party later tonight, Sora?"

The black-clad teen shook his head, folding his arms as he started walking again. The others followed at either side of him.

"Naa… I'm not a big fan of dressing up like a weird monster and going to parties where I'm probably going to be the only scary person there."

Sora had been to Halloween Parties before… Every single one he'd gone to since he was 9, he'd been the only person wearing a scary costume. He was literally the only person who had any _real_ Halloween Spirit. He was once kicked out of one of those parties when he was 10 for being _'too scary.'_

"Then… Why don't we all go Trick-or-Treating? I know it's a bit immature, but you're never too young to go out and grab some candy!" Selphie suggested, smiling enthusiastically.

"—_Or_, we could go out and tepee Highwind's place. Maybe egg his car, too." Tidus added, smirking temptingly.

The other just chuckled at how his friends were trying to cheer him up. He merely shrugged as he turned the corner to exit the building.

"Messing up Cid's house sounds fun… Maybe we can go Trick-or-Treating afterward, Selph."

His two friends laughed, nodding, and then Selphie ran out in front of them, causing them to stop. She held her hands behind her back as she leaned forward on her heels.

"So then! We'll meet up in front of the streetlight by your house? We can sneak over to his house without being seen if we don't meet up suspiciously over there."

The boys nodded in response, and then they all took their separate paths to their houses.

Sora smiled, his hands slipped into his pockets as he walked down the sidewalk west of the school. At least he wasn't the only person in the city who decided to do mischievous things with his friends.

Brilliant blue eyes looked up at the sky he was named after, "I have a feeling… Something _different_ is going to happen."


	2. 01: Mysterious Fortune Told

**: Fragment No. 1 :**

**_Mysterious Fortune Told_**

**_BOOM!_** The storm clouds that collected over the area kept Darkness over the town, yet they parted slightly to allow the glow of the full moon to shine down. The Thunder would crash, and Lightning would flash…

Black shadows were cast all around the Curly Hill, the jack-o-lanterns glowing by the candles held within them. A woman stood at the top of the hill, dressed in a dark magenta witch outfit. The skirt looked torn at the bottom hem, yet it still went down to her knees. Her top had two long collars going down the front of her chest, looking torn but still open. A dark magenta witches hat sat on the top of her light brown hair, which was held down in a long braid.

Emerald green eyes stared worriedly out to the darkening sky, then looked out over the town. Her ear twitched as a faint sound echoed through the air…

**_AROOOOOW!_** Came the howl, seemingly from far away.

She bit her lip, closing her eyes and holding her hands together as if she were praying. She touched her chin to her joined fingers, hoping to God that nothing awful was happening somewhere out there.

**_Eek! Eek!_** A bat flew up to her, stopping a few feet in the air away from her and just watching with strangely oceanic green eyes. After a moment, it glided behind her, and with a short _Poof_ of black smoke, a teen emerged.

His silver hair shined like metal, while his outfit was in total contrast. He wore a tight dark blue shirt with black pants, but over that he wore a long black cloak that ended _just_ above his black shoes. Dark blue fingerless gloves were on his hands; one was on his hip while the other hung loosely to his side.

Piercing oceanic eyes narrowed a bit, "Aerith… Have you noticed it, too?"

The good witch nodded, picking up her head and opening her eyes to continue staring out, "Of course… Do you think something like this could go unnoticed?"

He closed his eyes and let his face turn downward, "Heh… I guess not. The question is, however, _why_ is it happening?"

Aerith turned around, her gentle green orbs looked unfazed as she watched him. A small smile curled on her lips as she did.

"I… think something's going to happen…" she spoke with a soft voice, "The Werewolves have been acting oddly, and they usually sense things far before _we_ do…"

The teenaged boy smiled, opening his mouth slightly. Pointy white fangs came unsheathed as he did so, causing the older woman to tilt her head as if asking a silent question.

"As true as that is, aren't _you_ the only witch in Halloween Town that can see clearly into the future?" He opened his oceanic eyes back up, looking down at her with a funny look in them.

"Yes, I suppose you're right… but what does that have to do with—" she was suddenly interrupted when the obviously younger yet taller person suddenly disappeared and reappeared behind her, his arms holding her around the waist and pulling her back into his chest, "Wh-What're you…?"

The Vampire smirked, lowering his lips to her ear to whisper, "You _know_ what's going to happen, don't you? Why don't you tell me? Does it have something to do with me?"

Aerith was beginning to feel frightened by the younger's position behind her. She gulped quietly, but she was sure that he could tell that she was scared. That was a trait that everyone in Halloween Town had… They could tell when someone near them was startled.

"Why are you so tense…? Surely, you know that I won't do anything to harm you," he paused for a moment so that he could redirect his lips to her neck, "_if_ you answer my question… _What_ is going to happen?"

The witch had always been afraid that he was one day going to bite her… suck her blood and leave her to die. However, she soon learned that that wasn't his style. He preferred to let his victim's imagination run wild, and ultimately let them get themselves all worked up over nothing.

Was he doing that right now, or was he for real? She already knew the answer to this question, but she was still frightened, all the same.

"Yes, I know what's going to happen. It _does_ have something to do with you, and… I just can't tell you because… **no one** should know their future…" she replied, hoping that he was just playing with her again.

Those bright fangs of which she feared so much suddenly left her neck, and she could feel herself being let free. A tiny sigh of relief came from her as the Vampire again appeared in front of her.

"Fair enough, Aerith… I guess I'll just have to find out for myself, then."

She smiled, nodding, "I bid you good luck and a fond farewell, my friend. For I have a task to look into…" Her smile widened, "Why don't… you go off to another world for Halloween? Perhaps… you'll even make a new friend."

The boy raised an eyebrow at her, "Is that what—" He was unable to finish, because she chuckled quietly and disappeared in a puff of magenta smoke.

His oceanic eyes narrowed as he folded his arms over his chest. Was that supposed to be a clue? He sighed, answering his own question. Knowing Aerith, it probably _was_. He looked out over Halloween Town from where he stood on the Curly Hill.

"Which world, though…?"

He shrugged, jumping off of the hill and suddenly disappearing.

* * *

He appeared once again, but inside what seemed to be a… Train Station? He looked over to the other people apparently waiting for the train, grinning when he saw familiar spiky red hair.

"_Axel_."

The redhead blinked, looking out the corner of his bright green eye to see the other. He smiled widely, getting up from his spot on a bench and laughing.

"Well, well! If it isn't Riku! Where've you been all this time?" From his voice, you could tell that Axel was a pretty positive person… most of the time.

"I've been around… So, you going to another world for Halloween all around the universe?" the silver-haired Vampire replied, asking a question of his own.

"Heh, heh! Yeah, Roxas somehow got stuck in a tight spot over at Olympus Coliseum, so he wants me to go over and give him a hand! … And, where are _you_ going, may I ask?"

Riku laughed, shrugging, "I dunno… Maybe I'll get off at the Coliseum with you? Seriously, I don't know _what_ I'm doing here."

"Let me guess… That fortuneteller girl told you to go to some world, right?"

His eyes went wide with surprise, "How the hell did you know?"

It was Axel's turn to laugh again, "It was obvious! When we don't see you for days at a time, it usually means that something's up and that you probably went to Aerith for some answers."

"Am I _that_ predictable?"

The redhead clapped his hand over his friend's shoulder before replying, "Sorry to say… well, not really… Anyway, _yes_. You _are_ that predictable. And I think you need some time off from trying to keep Halloween Town in line, all right? Try going to Destiny Islands! It's Halloween there, and it's a beach!"

Riku sighed, "I guess you're right…"

The train suddenly came to a stop in front of them, several other abnormal creatures walked into it before them. The two Vampire friends entered along with the crowd and took a seat.

He looked out the window as he watched Halloween Town turn into a tiny speck in the distance and then another world come into view. It seemed to be the Arabian Desert world known as Agrabah. At least Riku knew the worlds that surrounded Halloween Town… but any of the other ones farther out were completely unknown to him.

It wasn't long after that they stopped at the world called Destiny Islands. He raised an eyebrow at his red-haired friend.

"So… this is my stop?"

"Sure is! Now, get out there and enjoy your time! But remember: an hour on this world is a day in ours."

Riku nodded, "I'll bare that in mind, then." He got to his feet and walked off of the train, only just realizing that they'd dropped him off a few yards in the air. It was almost surprising that none of the humans below could see the huge train levitating in midair.

Shrugging, he jumped down and landed lightly on his feet. His eyes scanned the area, seeing several strange-looking creatures. His nose twitched as different scents came to it, and he immediately knew that they were all humans in costumes and disguises.

Light shined down on him, and he looked up and hissed at it. A streetlight. Oh, joy. He immediately hopped out of it and into the shadows of the tree that was right near it, trying to get the horrid Light out of his mind. The cool Darkness engulfed him, and he again felt the safety it always provided him. Sighing, he looked back out at this strange new world he'd never seen before.

"So, then… What's going to happen here…?"


	3. 02: Encounter

**Authoress's Notes:**

Alright!! I only posted the Prologue and the First Chapter and I've _all ready_ gotten the same amount of Reviews for this fic as I have for my **.hack//QUARANTINE** fic!

:wants to cry: I'm so happy!! I want to thank everyone who reviewed! Ashlee-chii, Aki, blockofthewritingkind, Ryou's cat, kareena, four-fingered saLUTE, Mega Kokoro, and Vixyfox! Why don't I thank Nini? Of course, I know that she didn't actually read this fic, she just went straight to review. And how do I know this? She's my best friend. xD!

Anyway! Onward, my Readers! 8D!**

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**

**: Fragment No. 2 :**

_**Encounter**_

"Hmm… Toilet paper, eggs, silly string, spray paint…" Sora mumbled, checking everything he'd put inside of his black duffel bag, "Am I missing anything?"

"How about this?"

A hand suddenly stuck itself over his left shoulder, holding a bottle of Heinz Ketchup in front of his face. The boy blinked his blue eyes while smiling and taking it gratefully, putting it in his bag with everything else.

"Perfect! Thanks, Mo—Wait a minute… Mom!?" He immediately spun around, pushing his duffel bag backward into the wall beside his bed protectively. She wasn't going to try and stop him, was she?

The tall brown-haired woman smirked down at him, her hands on her hips as she began to speak, "Yes, it's _me_. Now, if I'm not mistaken, you're planning on ruining Mr. Highwind's house, again, right?"

He sighed in defeat, knowing that he was probably going to have to endure another lecture. This wasn't the first time he was planning on going to wreck that awful English teacher's place. Who _knew_ why he chose to be an English teacher when he spoke with a strong Southwestern Cowboy accent, and his house nearly _screamed_ Rodeo Clown. If people who lived in Texas, U.S. came to see this guy's pad, they'd be ashamed to call themselves Texans.

Mrs. Hikari laughed at her son's silence, bending over and ruffling his soft spiky hair, "Just don't go get yourself caught, like last time, alright?"

Sora looked up right away, almost not believing what his mother had just said. He was being given _permission_ to trash his teacher's house? This was too good to be true… His mother was truly unique, and right now, he was more than glad that she was the way she was.

A wide smile came to his face as he jumped up and down in place, hopping forward to give his mom a hug, "Thanks, Mom! I'll do my best, then!"

He snatched his duffel bag from its place on the bed and kissed his mother lightly on the cheek before dashing out the door, shouting a goodbye over his shoulder. Mrs. Hikari could hear him jumping down the steps of the stairs, probably skipping one or two of them.

"3… 2… 1…" she mumbled, hearing him let out a surprised scream before tripping the rest of the way down. She smiled, satisfied with what she'd heard, "That's my boy!"

She laughed before leaving his bedroom and going down to see if he was all right. However, when she got downstairs, she was shocked when she didn't see him sprawled on the carpet floor. Instead, she turned her head toward the white wooden front door, just in time to see it shut itself closed.

A pleasant smile was on her face now, "He's learning, then? Doesn't look like I'll be needing to pull out the First Aid Kit as much anymore." Her bright blue eyes looked up to the ceiling for a moment, as if she were thinking about something, and then she giggled again.

* * *

Sora ran down the driveway, turning on the sidewalk toward where he was supposed to meet up with his friends. He stopped suddenly, though, his brilliant blue eyes wide at the sight before him. 

A boy, probably about a year older than him, was standing _just_ out of the stream of light given off by the streetlight, looking around. He was tall, and he wore a lot of black and a bit of dark blue, kind of like he did, minus the colorful belts. His hair… was a shining platinum silver color, and it was so long that it went past his shoulders a bit.

The freshman gulped, feeling his cheeks redden significantly. That guy was _gorgeous_! It was then that he caught himself, growling under his breath and mentally slapping himself. He thought he'd gotten over this! When he was a bit younger, he'd found out that he was… well… not fond of girls. Yes, let's put it that way. Girls were OK friends, but he didn't like the thought of going out with one. He started to fancy, though, a few of his guy friends.

This was one of the reasons that he didn't fit in with everybody else and why he didn't have many friends. Not only did he stick out like a sore-thumb, but people saw him as a gay bastard who wasn't worth anyone's time. Selphie and Tidus were the only ones who didn't mind, having known other people who were… err… _not straight_.

He coughed, trying to get control of himself once again, but then found that, the whole time, he'd been staring at that beautiful silver-haired creature. His brilliant hues went wide when he saw the other's oceanic ones connect with his.

They were… _stunning_, to say the least. His eyes were a mixture of blue and green, but green had been the dominant color. Staring into them, even from a few yards away, was like getting swept off his feet and looking into the vast sea. He felt like all he wanted to do was stare into them for the rest of the night, but something snapped him out of it… The owner of those wondrous eyes was smirking at him. Again, he blushed, looking away apologetically.

A cough escaped him once again as he slowly walked over to the streetlight, making sure that he stood on the other side of the stream of light. He could feel the other's gaze on him, and he was doing his very best to ignore it, but he felt a sudden chill in the air. Goosebumps rose on his arms as he felt something materialize behind him.

"Hey…"

Sora _immediately_ spun around, jumping back a yard when he realized that it was the silver-haired teen that'd snuck up behind him. His blush was burning on his cheeks, so he was _sure_ that it was visible.

"Oh—err—um—h-hi." He stammered, yelling at himself in his head for the nervousness he'd probably shown in his voice.

He noticed that that smirk only widened, and something was sticking out the side of his lip… was that… Was that a fang? He blinked, clamping onto the thought that he was dressed up as a Vampire for Halloween. Was someone that old really Trick-or-Treating? He shrugged at the thought; he and his friends were planning on doing the same after messing up Cid's house.

"Why were you staring at me? A while ago? And… right now?"

He wound up coughing again, trying to snap out of the trance that this older guy had completely placed on him. Shaking his head embarrassedly, he laughed.

"Well, y-your costume! You're supposed to be a Vampire, right?"

The other boy was blink down at the slightly shorter spiky-haired one, as if he didn't quite get the question. Then a look of understanding came to his face, and he nodded with a smile.

"Costume! Yeah! Right!"

Sora tilted his head in confusion; it sounded like that wasn't the real story here, and this guy only went with the first idea that was told. How did he know this? Why, it was because he'd seen it done before, and had actually done it a few times himself. Shoving that thought off to a corner, he decided he'd introduce himself.

"I'm Sora, Sora Hikari. And… you are?"

_Hikari_, the other boy thought, hissing it in his head, _Let's just hope that he's not what his name means._ He smiled again, a calm, pleasant one this time, "Everybody calls me Riku." _What the hell, did I just use my real name?! I don't usually do that… Damn it, I guess I forgot to think about that… Oh, well, I'll probably just wind up killing him by the end of the night, anyway…_ "You look like you're dressed pretty normal for Halloween… You're not in costume, are you? Or are you going as yourself?"

"Was that supposed to be funny?" the younger one pouted cutely, earning a chuckle from the older.

"No, not really. I'll just take it you're not into the whole Trick-or-Treat thing?"

He shrugged, "I was actually gonna go with my friends to vandalize my English teacher's house before going on to do that…" He looked his new friend Riku up and down before stopping on his handsome face and smiling, "Would you… like to come with us? We're pretty much just gonna make a mess and then be done with it."

Riku raised a silver eyebrow, folding his arms and looking thoughtful for a moment before he nodded, "Sure, I'll come along. I don't really have anything better to do…"

"Alright! All we have to do, now, is wait for my friends Selphie and Tidus to get here, and then we can go." Sora looked like he was trying to contain his excitement, but a little bit of it was leaking out.

This amused Riku, causing him to smile again at the younger teen. A form of entertainment, and nothing more, he thought. He would not allow this one to get any closer to him than that.

_Perhaps… you'll even make a new friend._

His oceanic eyes grew wide at that memory of only a few hours ago. Was _this_ who Aerith had meant? He watched the chocolate-colored spiky hair on Sora's head as it bounced; he'd been pushing himself up and down on his toes and heels. He was now standing in the middle of the light that streetlight gave off, giving the Vampire the illusionary view of the supposed-human in an angelic-like way.

The Light bathed him in what Riku had known to be warmth, and gave a golden shine to his brown hair and lightly tanned skin. He caught himself in the midst of licking his lips. Was he hungry? No… Something gave him the feeling that he really shouldn't touch this child of the Light… but there was another feeling that somehow **attracted** him to this so-called human.

_Hikari… Now, it gets interesting._


	4. 03: Halloween Mischief and Treats

**: Fragment No. 3 :**

**_Halloween Mischief and Delights_**

"Sora!"

The brown-haired freshman smiled brightly as Selphie and Tidus came running into view. He laughed, waving at them.

"Hey, Guys! What took you so long?"

Once the three were united, Selphie wound up bending over, panting, while Tidus folded his arms and explained calmly.

"Selphie and I were over in the Market District, trying to buy some of the stuff we'd need, but nobody would sell any of it to us."

"Why not?" Sora asked instantly, confused as to why anyone in the Market District would refuse a sale to get money… the greedy bastards.

Selphie sighed, standing up straight and answering for the blonde, "They figured out by the stuff we were buying that we were planning to cause some mischief. They didn't let us buy _anything_."

"… then Selphie saw that they were selling chocolate Halloween cupcakes, and she kept begging them to sell it to her. They wouldn't even let her have _that_, even though they knew she'd probably just eat it. But, guess what? She stole it and ate it in their faces."

The girl pouted, obviously creating fake tears in her eyes, "Ti-dus! You didn't have to tell him the whole story!"

"Why not? It was hilarious!"

Before the two could start an argument over that, Sora laughed, making them fall silent. Apparently, hearing him laugh was unusual… because they were staring at him in disbelief.

"Eh? What?"

"You laughed…" the couple said in unison.

"Yeah, so?" he didn't know what was so weird about him laughing… Shrugging that off, he smiled and motioned toward the silver-haired teen standing _just_ outside of the Light, "This is my new friend Riku! He says he wants to come with us to mess up Cid's house."

"Uhh… Hell-_ooooo_? Sora, did you not just hear what I just finished explaining?" Tidus asked in exaggeration, "They wouldn't sell us anything!"

It was then that Sora held up his duffel bag, "I think smart, Guys… I bought all the stuff back in September, when they didn't think about kids vandalizing other people's property."

Tidus fell backward onto the ground, while Selphie laughed and jumped up and down, "You're a genius!"

"Anyway, let's get moving, alright? It's already 10:30, so Cid's probably at the Bar right now."

"Right!"

Riku smirked, watching how Sora seemed to be the leader of their mischievous little group. He wanted to see exactly what sort of tricks they were going to pull, so as they all started running in the opposite direction, he followed after them, gliding over the ground rather than running.

* * *

They stopped in a rather dark neighborhood, it'd been about 5 blocks away from Sora's. At least their stupid English teacher lived at a corner with a streetlight, otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to see a thing! 

They all hid behind a tree and a long bush in the tall white building's front yard. Sora dropped his duffel bag down on the grass, unzipping it and pulling out two cartons of a dozen eggs and three rolls of toilet paper.

"OK, for starters, Selphie and Tidus, you'll egg the windows and the doors while Riku and I tepee the trees."

"You sure about the windows, Sora? What if one of the eggs is so hard that it breaks the whole window?" the girl asked, sort of uncomfortable now.

"Don't worry about that. If it _does_ happen, then we'll just throw stuff through the window and mess up the room on the inside." The spiky brown-haired boy replied, smirking evilly.

That smirk was enough to reassure her, so both she and Tidus took the eggs and ran off into the Darkness. The sound of eggs being thrown at solid walls and glass was heard, and Sora was satisfied. He handed the silver-haired Vampire two rolls of toilet paper, then grabbed another from the bag for himself.

"Umm… Sora? If you don't mind my asking…" he sounded a bit confused, so the younger knew exactly what the problem was before he finished.

"It's alright, I get it. You don't know what we do with these, right? Just open it up," he paused for a moment, demonstrating. He pulled out a little of the paper from the roll and then held it back over his shoulder, "then throw it up at the trees."

When he threw it up, the open part of the paper got stuck to a branch, letting the rest of the roll fly and unravel itself through the air. It went over the whole entire top of the tree, and then it ran out of paper.

"Get it now?" he asked, grinning at his new friend.

Riku nodded, feeling his childish side get the best of him. He mirrored Sora's earlier movements and then threw it at the tree, letting the bright white of the paper add some color to the Dark trees. He smirked, thinking that he could understand it now, so he continued… until they ran out of the toilet paper.

Sora blinked, searching through the bag and finding no more paper and no more eggs. Shrugging, he took out the silly string, a bucket, and the ketchup his mom had given him earlier.

"What's with the bucket?" Tidus asked, curious.

"I dunno, maybe my mom slipped it in here when I wasn't looking? She gave me the ketchup, too, so I got the idea that we could put it around everywhere like fake blood."

Riku suddenly started paying more attention, having heard the word _'blood.'_ He blinked when he saw Selphie run off with the silly string and start spraying it all about the doors and walls, then looked to Sora and Tidus, who seemed to be pouring the red tomato sauce into the bucket.

When they'd completely emptied the bottle, the bucket wasn't even half full. Sora bit his lip as he realized this, and before Tidus could say anything, the Vampire stepped forward and spoke.

"Do you need more?"

The two human boys looked at him, eyebrows raised. "You wouldn't happen to have some ketchup with you, would you?" Tidus asked sarcastically.

Riku's eyes flashed for a moment. What the hell? He'd helped them until now, so why not keep going? They wanted blood, so he'd _give_ them blood. He shrugged, seizing the bucket from them and then walking away, turning the corner toward another house.

"What the… You think he's gonna go steal some ketchup from somebody's house?" the blonde asked, trying to think of what their strange new friend was going to do.

"I dunno, but until he gets back, we'll have to help Selphie with the stringing of the place." Taking two of the sprays out of the bag, they went off to join the girl.

* * *

Riku hummed _This is Halloween_ to himself as he walked down a barely visible sidewalk, stopping when his pointy ear twitched. He could hear something… a human coming this way. He licked his lips; he'd finally get to have some of his favorite fun. 

A seemingly teenaged girl dressed in a black-and-white pirate outfit walked out of the Darkness that was the Forest Terrace, a pumpkin-shaped bucket in her hand. She'd obviously been Trick-or-Treating… he could smell the chocolate and sweets in the bucket from all that way away.

She suddenly stopped, staring at him. Her hand went limp, and the bucket fell out of it. All the candy fell on the ground, everywhere. She'd been stopped by fear… that cold, frightening feeling that gripped the Heart and made you feel vulnerable.

He smiled deviously, his fangs clearly visible now. Disappearing for a moment, he reappeared right behind her. His arms encircled her waist, bringing her closer. A shaky breath left her lips as she slowly let her head tilt to the side, exposing her neck to him. This was the magic that all Vampires possessed… To put their victims into a trance-like state and command them to do whatever they wanted them to. This girl was no different.

He lowered his fangs to her neck, making it quick. As his teeth sunk into the tender area that was her neck, the pain snapped her out of the trance, causing her to let out an ear-piercing scream that echoed into the night.

* * *

A scream… loud and high-pitched. Sora looked up from his task of spraying silly string over everything of Cid's house he could find. 

"What was that?" he heard Selphie ask in a frightened voice.

"Pfft, probably somebody getting a little _too_ into the Halloween Spirit… Right, Sora?" Tidus said, trying to reassure Selphie, and quite possibly, himself.

"Yeah…" Sora said slowly, looking out in the direction that Riku had left in.

It'd come from that direction, right? What if something bad had happened? What if Riku was somehow a part of it, or had seen it? He'd need help, right?! The spiky-haired brunette threw the empty silly string bottle into a bush and ran over to the sidewalk, about to turn the corner, when he saw familiar silver hair.

"Riku?" he stopped, staring at his friend, "Where'd you go?"

The tall one shrugged, holding out the bucket to him, "I went… to get some more."

Sora blinked, looking at the bucket for a moment. It'd once been filled about one eighth of the way, but now it was almost to the very top! He smiled brightly, taking it from the other gratefully.

"Thanks a lot! Man, you sure got a lot of it…" he complimented, bringing it up and sniffing it. He held it down again, making a face, "Eck… That smells awful! Where'd you get it from?"

Riku shook his head, leaning forward with a smile on his face and winking at the shorter one, "I'll just keep that to myself."

Sora might've been a bit suspicious had Riku not have just gotten _so_ close to him and wink like that. The blood rushed to his cheeks again, warming them instantly. From how his smile was widening, he could guess that his face was red again.

"Err… I-I'm gonna go spread this over his welcome mat!" he blurted, turning around and running off to continue the damaging of his English teacher's property.

The Vampire smiled, walking leisurely after him. It'd actually been pretty fun going out to help Sora get back at some old human. He didn't really acknowledge the other two, but Sora was something… something _different_. He felt like he could do just about anything with him.

A cold smile curled on his lips as he watched the said human pour the contents of the bucket over the welcome mat, and then proceed to letting it drip over the large white door. He must've sensed his stare, because those brilliant blue eyes of his had suddenly turned to look over into his own oceanic ones. Somehow, his smile grew warmer, and he could see Sora's cheeks turn red again. A chuckle escaped him at the sight; he liked to see Sora blush.

"You guys! Let's get out of here, the cops are coming to patrol now!" Tidus announced, signaling for everyone to gather up under the tree.

Sure enough, as soon as all four had gone soundless, they could hear the faint sound of the sirens going off. Sore immediately emptied the rest of the 'blood' on the driveway before chucking the bucket into his bag and running off, the other three following behind him.

With how frightened the humans had been of getting caught, they'd made it back to Sora's house in less than two minutes. Dropping the bag behind a bush, Sora collapsed onto his knees, panting. Tidus and Selphie were also exhausted, bending over and wheezing. Riku, on the other hand, was completely fine.

"Sora… What time… is it?" Tidus puffed, still trying to get his breathing under control.

The spiky-haired brunette looked at his watch, finally calming himself down, "It's… 11:30."

"We better get a move on, then. See you tomorrow!" Selphie exclaimed, taking Tidus by the wrist and pulling him off down the street.

Riku slapped his forehead, remembering what Axel had said about the time-difference. An hour here on Destiny Islands was a day back in Halloween Town. He sighed, wishing he didn't have to go so soon after just meeting Sora, but he knew that he had to get back, lest hell break out on the town he usually kept in line.

"Sorry, Sora, but I've got to get going, too."

Sora looked at him with a saddened and disbelieving look, "Already? But it's not even that late!"

The silver-haired one smiled calmly down at the young human, bending down beside him and placing his dark-gloved hand on his cheek.

"I know, but… I've stayed too long as it is."

He could feel the warmth rush to the other's cheek, his smile widening. Well, why not? They had a lot of fun tonight, so he'd not only let him live, but he'd give him a fang-free payment.

He slowly leaned downward, his face growing closer to the younger one's.

"U-Uhh… R-Ri… ku…" Sora accidentally moaned, his question being transformed instantly. His cheeks felt flaming hot, but he felt so comfortable… Blue eyes gently fell closed as the two suddenly felt lip-to-lip contact.

A soft kiss, yes, but a short one. It lasted only five seconds before Riku pulled away and whispered.

"I won't forget you… Sora _Hikari_…"

Sora became momentarily dazzled, but as soon as he'd gotten back to his senses, he shook himself awake and looked around for the one who'd just… just… What just happened, again?

He picked up his hand, letting his fingers run over his lips for a bit. Had he just gotten his first kiss? His blush was definite, but he had to know why… Why had Riku done it? He gulped, pushing himself to his feet and looking over toward the streetlight.

Shining silver hair was easy to see in the Darkness beside the Light, and he knew where he had to go. His eyes narrowed in determination as he ran as noiselessly as he could toward him.

It was then that something very, _very_ unusual came into view. A _train_ had landed right beside him, the side doors opening up to let him in. Sora growled quietly, running so swiftly that even _he_ couldn't believe it. He snuck in through another of the doors, the one at the back of the mere 2-car train.

Having entered it, he was surprised when the door suddenly shut behind him, and even _more_ so when he realized that there weren't any normal-looking people riding the train. Taking an empty seat there in the back, he looked around and saw girls dressed as witches, laughing and cackling, a man dressed as a Warlock holding onto a chain that seemed to be fastened around the neck of a Werewolf, and people dressed in a similar attire to what Riku was wearing.

He blinked, watching from where he sat as Riku took a seat beside a man with _long_ spiky red hair and a blonde-haired boy who looked a little bit like himself. He strained his ears, trying to listen in on their conversation over at the other end of the train.

"Hey, Buddy! How'd your day-long vacation in the Islands go? Anything interesting happen?" the redhead asked, smirking.

"It was alright… I helped a few humans do some damage to another person's house. Nothing really special, Axel." Replied the silver-haired one, speaking in a stoic voice, "How'd it go at the Coliseum?"

The young blonde looked down at his black-gloved hands, blushing in what seemed to be embarrassment as the redhead called Axel just burst out laughing.

"You should'a seen it! Roxas thought that he was gonna get eaten by that weirdo Heartless… What was it called again? _Defender_, I think?"

"Hey! It was giving me a real hard time, OK!? I didn't think it was gonna eat me!" the blonde named Roxas snapped, pouting.

Axel continued laughing, "Oh, _really_? Then why did you literally scream, _'Aaah! Axel, save me! It's gonna eat me! IT'S GONNA EAT MEEEE!!'_?" He was laughing so hard now that he was starting to cry, and you would have thought that he'd have fallen over by now.

"SHUT UP!" Roxas yelled, whacking the hysterical redhead over the head with what looked like a huge black Key-shaped sword.

The poor buffoon suddenly stopped laughing and just started crying fakely, "Hey, hey… Roxie, you didn't have to bring out your PumpkinKing Keyblade; I was just kidding!"

"Oh, yeah? You didn't _sound_ like you were…"

Riku shook his head, grinning as he folded his arms and leaned back against the seat, "You guys never change, do you?"

"Nope!" Axel said with a positive tone.

"He probably won't, y'know…" the blonde sighed hopelessly, smoothing out his zipped, long black cloak.

Sora raised an eyebrow as he looked at their outfits; they all wore the same black cloaks. Riku was the only one who had his unzipped, though. Shrugging to himself, he continued to watch.

"Anyway, you said you helped some humans, right? Did you make some friends? Or did you just use them as puppets until you got bored and ate them?" the emerald green-eyed man asked, eyeing Riku curiously, "I can smell blood on you…"

"Yeah, I made a friend… They needed some blood, so I went and got it for them. I _did_ take a bit for myself, but hey, I was hungry."

The spiky-haired brunette gulped, clapping his right hand over his mouth as he realized. That wasn't ketchup Riku had gone and put into the bucket… It'd been **real** blood… from a **real** person. That would have to mean that Riku and his friends were… _Vampires_. He felt like he was gonna be sick… but he forced his stomach down, trying to ignore that fact and keep listening.

It was sort of hard to do that now, though, because he was sitting by the Warlock's pet Werewolf. The huge man-wolf was staring down at him through light crimson eyes, just blinking. This was a little creepy, so he scooted away a bit, but the thing just followed him by one.

What the… Did it just _smile_ at him?! He shivered, looking for another empty space to sit in. It was then, however, that the beast leant forward and gave him a massive lick on the cheek.

"_Bleh_!" he mumbled, trying not to be too loud. He didn't want to catch the attention of Riku and his friends at the front.

The Warlock holding onto the chain-leash grinned slightly, pulling on it to make the Werewolf come back to sit closer to him, "Now, now, Leon… We don't need you to cause another scene, now, do we?"

The spiky blonde-haired Warlock looked over to the boy and smiled, "Sorry about that… He usually doesn't lick people he doesn't know… unless he can tell they're good people." He paused for a moment, then seemed to smirk before speaking significantly softer, "You're a… _human_, aren't you?"

Sora gulped again; he was busted! Would they kick him off the train? Or kill him? Or worse… keep him as a _pet_! The worried look on his face was obviously readable, because it caused the Warlock to chuckle.

"Calm down, I won't tell… My name is Cloud, by the way."

He sighed in relief, nodding as he grinned nervously, "I'm Sora."

"Sora… What brought you to the Halloween Town Train? You're not trying to find a strange way to die, are you?"

The brunette sighed again, shaking his head, "I'm not… I just came on here because I was following a friend of mine. I had no idea that… he was a _Vampire_, though."

Cloud could see the sadness on the young one's face, looking up at the Werewolf, "Any suggestions for our new friend, Leon?"

Sora looked up at the man-wolf, watching as it suddenly grew a bit smaller and into the form of a man with long, spiky brown hair and smoky grey eyes. He wore a white shirt with a black leather jacket over that, and black leather pants, as well. He was mildly surprised by the transformation, but then again, _nothing_ should surprise him since he got kissed by a Vampire and lived.

"Good grief…" he mumbled, placing a hand to his head as if he were dizzy.

Cloud chuckled again, "A little too much supernatural stuff? Too bad, because you'll be seeing a lot more stuff like this once we get back to Halloween Town!"

Leon growled for a moment, getting the attention of both the human and the Warlock, "So, then, Sora… You followed a Vampire on here? It's got to be Riku, then…"

"That's right! He helped me and my friends get back at our English teacher by messing up his house…"

"You must really like him to have followed him onto _this_ train, huh?"

The young boy just stared at the Warlock for asking such a question, but it was true… He blushed lightly, looking away.

"I… guess you could say that…" he began before clearing his throat and going on more strongly, "I don't want him to know I'm here, though. If he finds out too soon, he might make me go back, but I want to stay a little while longer…"

Cloud smiled, "You can stay with us, then. Just until you decide to make yourself known to him, though."

"You mean it? Thanks a lot!" Sora smiled; they'd only just met, and they were all ready like close friends… Maybe things would look up for him, after all.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

Okay! I know this may have been a bit sucky, especially since I've never _actually_ gone out on Mischief Night and done those things. A lot of them were just thrown in there at random, plus, if I were a naive teenager (of which, I _am_), I'd probably do anything to mess that teacher's house up **good**!

Anyway, tell me what _you_ think! x3!


	5. 04: Deception

**: Fragment No. 4 :**

_**Deception** _

_Attention, Passengers. We will reach Halloween Town shortly, so please gather your belongings before departing. Thank you for riding Halloween Town Express Train!_

Sora blinked, looking up at the ceiling of the train, raising a curious eyebrow, "Already? That was quick…"

"Yes, well… Trains that connect through the different worlds are a lot different from those on your world." Cloud explained, smoothing out his black-and-grey robes and securing his grip on the chain leash he held.

Leon rolled his eyes, folding his arms, "Y'know, I'm not in my Lycan form anymore… You can take off the leash now."

"Hmm… Not a chance!"

"Must you?"

"Why, of course!"

The young teen watched the two older guys, completely confused about what was taking place between them. Shrugging, he suddenly fell backward when the train came to an abrupt stop. Scratching the back of his head from the impact it had with the floor, he grumbled silently before picking himself up and looking out the window.

He was now on a strange new world… One that looked near _nothing_ like his own.

He was now in Halloween Town, a world where it was always Halloween. Strange creatures that he'd never seen before walked by in his view, and some he'd only seen in movies. His eyes looked like they were going to pop out of their sockets at the people who inhabited this bizarre earth, and the way it looked did not help.

Withered, dead trees grew out of the dry soil, and black clouds held Darkness over the town. Pumpkins with frightening faces carved into them were at every corner, blackened fences separated tall eerie houses, and the fountain that was in the middle of the 'Square' seemed to be shooting out a sickly-colored green liquid.

"My… Gosh…"

Cloud chuckled quietly to himself, getting up from his seat and approaching him, "Welcome to Halloween Town, Sora…"

"Not exactly a picnic for the eyes, right? You get used to it…" the older brunette added, following beside the Warlock thanks to that damned leash.

Sora grinned nervously, "Eh heh… My question, actually, is how am I supposed to fit in? Surely, I don't look like I belong here, right?"

Cloud put a finger to his chin in thought as he stared at the human, "Here's an answer, then: _Wrong_. You wear a lot of black, excluding the brightness of those yellow belts, and red is sort of a sign of blood, so you'll be accepted by just about anyone who doesn't pay too much attention to you."

He blinked at the peculiar explanation; he'd be _accepted_? Thoughts of how people always pushed him away and gave him disgusted looks back on the Destiny Islands came to his mind, and he suddenly felt a burst of happiness in his Heart. A small smile curled on his lips as he nodded.

"So, then! What do we do now?"

The Warlock picked up that thoughtful finger to place in front of his mouth as a signal to keep quiet. He led the Werewolf and the human out through the back door from which Sora had entered the train. Closing it without a sound, the spiky-haired blonde turned back around to face them.

"If you want to make sure that Riku doesn't see you, you're going to have to keep out of his sight. If he's gotten so close to you as to be able to catch your scent, or even a whiff of your blood, it'll be easy for him to figure out that you're here."

"So, in other words, I've just got to stay away from him, right?" Sora asked, frowning visibly.

"Well, yeah, so if you really came all this way to be with him, I suggest you do it soon. At least, do it after the train leaves. This was its last stop of night, and it won't start up again for a few days."

"A few days!? But how am I supposed to get back home on time? I still have school! And my mom would definitely be worried about me!"

"Calm down… There's a time difference between our two worlds, Sora. A day here in Halloween Town is an hour in your world, so you've got virtually nothing to worry about on that note."

"Hmm… Alright, then. I _guess_ that was all, but what do I do about Riku? I'm here on his turf, so do you think he'll try to kill me?"

Cloud smiled gently down at the young one, "If he was kind to you before, then I do believe he'll be kind to you here, as well. It just depends on how he acted when he was around you, you see?"

Sora blushed; Riku was not only kind, but also a little **more** than that. He bit his lip, trying to force that thought out of his mind. He couldn't be sure that Riku wouldn't have changed his mind now, right? Maybe he was just playing with him back on the islands, and if he sees him here, he'll do something really awful. He shuddered at the thought of being killed by the one who'd given him his first kiss.

"Hmm? Sora, you look a bit pale, are you alright?"

He looked up at the Warlock and his amusedly concerned expression; obviously, he was enjoying this. Resisting the urge to smack his forehead, Sora nodded and looked over toward the silver-haired Vampire he'd followed.

Riku was still with Axel and Roxas… and they were walking away! His Heart began to beat faster as he tried to come up with what he should do next. Should he follow them, or should he wait? His panic must've been noticeable on his face, because Cloud put a hand on his shoulder.

"Go ahead and follow them. There's a sleeping power inside of you, and I can feel it. If you happen to get into any trouble, that power will reveal itself, and you will be able to withstand it." He informed, "However, should it not be enough, use this to call for Leon and I. We'll be available to you at anytime, so if you ever need any help of any sort, you know how to reach us."

In his black-gloved hand that'd been on his shoulder, he now held what looked like a silver earring-sized charm with a star engraved on it. Small sparkles of silver shimmered around it as it'd magically appeared but a second ago; Sora stared at it in awe.

"Oh, _wow_!" he exclaimed, smiling brightly as he slowly took it from his new friend, staring down at it in his hand, "This looks really nice! What is it, though?"

"It's a Star Charm. Like I said, if you ever need me, you can call me by using it. All you have to do is hold onto it tightly and say my name; I invented it recently, and this seems like the perfect time to see if it'll work or not." Cloud laughed, "Unfortunately, it won't work if you want to call for Leon… The big lug doesn't want to let me make a charm that can be used to summon him!"

The pout on the Warlock's face was amusing, but the scowl on Leon's kept the human from laughing. So, he just shrugged and put it in his pocket, smiling as he turned his back on them, looking over his shoulder at them.

"Thanks, Cloud… Leon… I owe you, I really do! I'll see you later."

With that said, he ran off in an attempt to follow the trail of the three vampires, one being his current object of obsession.

* * *

Oceanic eyes scanned the withered trees of the forest he and his two companions were strolling through; why were they _here_, of all places? He opened his mouth to ask, but then a swamp came into view. He raised a curious eyebrow, looking over to Axel.

"What's this, then? You got something stashed in there?"

The redhead shook his head, glaring, "Roxas and I found this place a while back, before he went off to the Coliseum."

"We heard weird rumors that people were coming this way and weren't seen again. 'Thought maybe we could investigate, and who better to bring along than Mr. Investigation himself?" the blonde-haired kid asked, smirking toothily.

Riku rolled his eyes, walking ahead of them, "Right… Time to go to work, then."

His eyes were narrowed as he suddenly felt a chilling breeze blow by, a slightly thick fog forming over the swamp. Something was going on in this area, and he could tell that it wasn't good. Sure, scaring was allowed in Halloween Town, but attacking and killing were not, so if something's been doing one of the two, or even both, they were going to get taken down _now_.

_Loo, loo, loo loo loo…_

A silvery eyebrow was raised, his pointed ear twitching at the sound that was beginning to fill the air. A song… Someone was humming and it sounded like it was coming from deeper into the fog. With a feeling of suspicion developing inside of him, he continued forward.

It was then that a shadow came into view, out in the middle of the swamp. The person seemed to be sitting on a log, humming and kicking their legs back and forth. He strained his eyes in an attempt to get a better look at the person, slowly making out the colors of their clothes.

Baggy black clothes… Belts of silver, red and yellow hanging from all sorts of angles… The familiarity of the clothing made his eyes grow wide, bitter realization creeping up on him. The spiky chocolate-brown hair that bounced steadily up and down was what got him. Raising a hand to cover his mouth, immediate confusion and worry was visible on his face.

'_What's **he** doing here!? He couldn't've followed me back here, right? But… if he hadn't, then who the hell's **that**?'_ he thought, biting his lip in an effort to keep himself quiet, but it was unsuccessful, "S… Sora…?"

The humming was cut short, and the being turned around slightly, but not enough for the Vampire to be able to see his face clearly. He was, however, able to make out a gentle smile that was obviously directed toward him.

"_Riku… You came…_"

Riku flinched, taken aback by the strange echo-y sound his voice now held. It was as if it wasn't really him, but an imposter. His eyes narrowed into a glare, oceanic flashing to blood red before he disappeared, only to reappear in front of the impersonator. He took hold of the collar of his dark blue shirt beneath the black jacket, his nails growing sharper and his face becoming deathly pale.

"Who are you?!" he hissed menacingly.

The face… it looked _exactly_ like his, but one major difference stuck out, and this being noticed would change his appearance completely…

Eyes of shining gold, not bright blue, blinked up at him, that smile turning into a freakishly wide smirk. His mouth opened, revealing two rows of extremely razor-sharp teeth and a forked tongue. Laughter escaped this bizarre creature as it pushed itself closer to him and attempted to bite him.

The Vampire growled, jumping backward and doing a back flip before landing in shallow water. He watched the horrid beast as it stood up straight, laughing at him.

"_Aww… You really want Sora back, don't you? But what about me? I look like him, so what's the problem?_"

"So what if you have the physical appearance of my friend? You don't have his voice, nor do you act like him! There's a huge difference between the two of you!" he replied, darting forth like a bolt of lightning. He pulled back his claws, now the length of a 12-inch ruler, and stabbed the imposter through the chest.

An earsplitting scream erupted from it as its body began to fade away as if it were made of Darkness. Once it'd disappeared entirely, something had fallen on the ground where it'd stood.

Riku bent down to pick it up, staring down at it in the palm of his hand. It appeared to be a Dark Charm of some sort… carved into it was the name _Skylar_. He raised an eyebrow in sudden awareness; it'd been a Darkside.

Darksides were strange nymph-like creatures that everyone had, but only people who inhabited that world. This confused him as well, because why would Sora's Darkside be here if he weren't here himself? Shaking his head, he pocketed the Skylar Charm and started heading back to where he'd left Axel and Roxas.

* * *

Sora Hikari pouted, looking around at his surroundings as he walked down a dusty old trail that led through that forest of withered trees. He'd lost track of Riku and the others _ages_ ago, and he thought maybe he'd turned down the wrong fork in the road, but he still went onward in hopes of finding his friend. On top of that, it was starting to get foggy and it smelt like swampy water.

He stuck his tongue out in disgust, but then he heard something… A humming sound. He calmed down, having immediately taken a liking to the soft melody. He turned toward where he could hear it coming from, stopping when he saw a shadow ahead of him.

It was a tall person, he could tell… Long black leather cloak was a bit shiny, and platinum hair glittered from the glow of the moonlight down on it. He blushed darkly, knowing whom it was right away. Pushing his feelings away, he ran toward his friend, calling his name.

"Riku? Riku! It's me, Sora!"

The figure turned around a bit, just enough so that half of his face was visible. Golden eyes were glowing, and pearly-white fangs were bared as the face that looked exactly like Riku's hissed at him. This look made the human boy slow down a bit, but he continued until they were only separated by three yards.

"Listen… Riku… I'm sorry for following you here, but… I had to know." He tried to explain, "I know you're probably angry with me, though… and that's understandable! I mean… If I were a Vampire, I'd probably get annoyed if a human were following me around, too."

The golden-eyed Riku raised an eyebrow at him, as if he didn't understand a thing of which Sora was talking about. However, he did seem to decide to play along, and this human didn't look very smart.

"_Alright, then… You followed me all the way out here, so what'd you want?_" he asked, an echo somehow added to his voice.

Sora was confused by the changes in his friend, but he simply assumed that it was a Vampire thing, and the question asked caused him to start blushing again, "I… I wanted to ask you… wh-why you kissed me earlier."

The other stared with wide eyes at the brave young teen, and he immediately understood everything. The memories within his Other came to his own mind, and he decided that if the real one wasn't going to say anything, then maybe _he_ should. A gentle smile came to his lips as he motioned for the young one to come closer.

The teen did as he was instructed to, noticing that he'd just stepped into the swampy water he'd smelt earlier. Walking further, he found that if he stood any closer than a foot and a half to his friend, he'd probably go straight down a drown. Taken caution, he stopped three feet away, looking expectantly to the Vampire for the answer.

'Riku' walked closer, putting his arms around the shorter boy and pulling him into an embrace. This puzzled the poor little one, also causing his cheeks to heat up further.

"_I did it because… I believe I've taken a liking to you, Sora…_"

The smoothness of his voice combined with the echo caused Sora to feel slightly sleepy. His eyes began to droop as he leaned onto the other's leather-clad chest, slowly losing consciousness.

* * *

_Riku? Riku! It's me, Sora!_

Riku suddenly stopped; had he just heard what he thought he'd heard? Axel was waving at him from the top of the hill, calling down to him.

"Hey, Riku! What's wrong?"

The memory of what he did to his human friend before departing crossed his mind. Could he have followed him here in hopes of finding out why he'd done it? What if he found out that he was really a Vampire? He began to feel a frightened feeling surface inside of him, but it was unlike any fear he'd felt before.

He didn't want Sora to get scared of him and leave.

At once, he turned around and sped through the trees, finding that the fog that he'd thought had been lifted was now on the other side of the swamp. He came to a halt, surprise written all over his face.

There, in the swamp, was Sora. He was being held in an embrace with such an innocent look of his face that it might've been adorable had he not realized who it was embracing him. It was… _him_.

"Landon!!" he shouted angrily, glaring with glowing blood red eyes.

Equally glowing gold eyes connected with his, a glare on his face as well. He then hissed quietly, "_Shut up! He's sleeping!_"

"You let him go, Landon, or I'll make sure you go back to Hell where you belong!"

Sora stirred, dull eyes blinking open slightly, "Riku… What's… going on…?"

Riku's Darkside, Landon, looked down at the young human, "_Shhh… Nothing, Sora… Just go back to sleep…_"

As if like a spell, he instantly fell back to sleep, and Landon took this time to open the gates below. A ring of fire encased them, and even Riku couldn't get past it. He was as close as he could be without getting burned, and he kept yelling.

"Damn it!! Give Sora back!!"

"_Not a chance! You obviously don't think highly of him since he's a Human, so I'll just bring him with me… Where he'll be my slave of love forever!_"

Riku hissed dangerously, disappearing. This confused Landon; where'd he go? His silent question was answered when Riku appeared behind him, slashing him across the back with those animal-like talons. A scream of pain came from the Darkside, but he held on tighter to the human.

"_I won't let him take you, Sora…_"

The Original of the two glared and let out a roar, "Let him GO!" He stabbed his nails _clear_ through his back and out through his chest, _just_ underneath Sora's head, so the young one wasn't harmed. Also, just to make sure that Landon went down, he leaned forward and bit the Darkside's neck, the full length of his fangs sinking into the material of which Darksides called skin.

Landon let out the same type of scream Skylar had before, awakening Sora immediately. The Riku impersonator's face began to change form to its true looks, mouth too wide and teeth like a shark's. As the Darkness that made up its being faded away, so did the flames that surrounded them.

Sora, brilliant blue hues wide with fright from the scene he'd just experienced, just stared at the real Riku. His glowing red eyes calmed down back into oceanic green ones, and his nails grew smaller to their normal size. Riku stared down caringly and with concern at Sora, bending down in front of him and putting his hands on his shoulders.

"Are you alright, Sora? He didn't do anything bad to you, did he?"

The teen didn't look at him, he just shook his head slowly and picked something up from the ground. They both looked down, seeing a Dark Charm with the name _Landon_ inscribed on it.

"So… It really wasn't you, right…?"

"Yeah, that was my Darkside… Landon's his name, if you haven't guessed already." He looked questioningly at the younger, "So… what's up? Did you have a reason for following me all the way to Halloween Town?"

It'd be just like before, when he was talking to Landon. Sora grinned slightly, getting up and placing the Landon Charm with his Star Charm, "I… wanted to ask you something."

An eyebrow was raised; that was the signal to go on.

He took a deep breath before continuing, "Why did you… _kiss_ me earlier… back on the islands." His blush was dark and he was sure that it was noticeable, so he averted his gaze from the other's, "I mean… It was my first, so… I-I guess I really wanted to know."

Riku blinked, the question taking a moment to register in his mind before he was able to come up with an answer, though his normally pale and cold face was beginning to gain a bit of color and grow warmer.

"Well…" he began, looking up toward the sky where the moon was shining down on them, "I suppose you could say that I've taken a liking to you, Sora _Hikari_."

Sora coughed; that was the same answer Landon had given him. Landon and Riku were sort of the same person, so of course they'd have the same feelings… right? Landon had been so affectionate and kind to him… Would Riku be the same way?

"I—uhh—" he stuttered, looking up, only to see directly into oceanic eyes. Riku had gotten closer enough to him that they were nose-to-nose and eye-to-eye. He gulped, wondering what the Vampire was up to.

"You don't have to say anything… I see why you came." A small smile came to him as he leant forward and touched his lips to the other's, warmth flowing into him.

The teen let out a moan that he'd obviously been trying to keep to himself, but he suddenly felt the charm in his pocket fly out. Pushing himself away from the Vampire, he stared at the glowing Star Charm.

A small projection seemed to come out of the star hole in it, showing the Warlock he'd made friends with earlier, "_Sora! Dear God, are you still out in that forest? I was sure that by now you'd have found Riku! Leon and I have been worried si—_" An exaggerated clearing of the throat could be heard in the background, "_Oh, alright, **I**'ve been worried sick._"

Sora chuckled as Riku came into view of the Charm, "Who the hell're you?"

The spiky-haired blonde grinned, "_Oh, that's right, I was never able to introduce myself to you, was I, Riku? I'm Cloud, Warlock Extraordinaire! Please refrain from harming Sora, lest you'll have me and my pet Werewolf to deal with._"

"_I'M NOT YOUR PET, FOR THE THOUSANDTH TIME!_"

"_Shut up, Squall!! _(Leon: _"DON'T CALL ME THAT!"_)_—Anyway, Sora, you should probably come over now… It's not exactly good for a human to be out in the night while in Halloween Town. There are Darksides and Sirens and Nymphs that would just love to mess with you._"

"So I found out…" Sora laughed embarrassedly, looking to Riku, "I'll see you around, right?"

The Vampire nodded, "Yeah… You bet."

The teen smiled as he gave Cloud the **OK**. He then disappeared from sight there in the forest of withered trees, leaving Riku to backtrack to his own companions.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

Alright, here's probably the last chapter for a while, you guys. I'm totally into .hack//G.U. right now, so... yea. If you still want to read Anime/Game Yaoi, be my guest and read **.hack//W.O.**! LoL! Until we meet again, then!

Later!

_-- Emerald Twin Blade_


	6. 05: Trouble Strikes

**: Fragment No. 5 :**

**_Trouble Strikes_**

It was the next morning now, and Sora was sitting at a blackened table with a bowl placed before him. He leaned forward, blinking those brilliant blue eyes of his, to see what was inside of it. He immediately looked disgusted as he saw that it was bubbling, and then fear came to his face when he saw an eyeball suddenly surface from the liquid, staring up at him.

"Cloud, what the hell is this!?!"

The said Warlock smiled apologetically, "To tell the truth, I don't know… Leon decided that he'd try making breakfast, and this is it."

The human sniffed the bowl before flinching all the way back against his chair and nearly causing it to fall backward. He slumped in his seat, eyes swirling. Obviously, the strange slop didn't smell like chicken-noodle soup.

His reaction to the so-called _'food'_ made Cloud laugh, which also resulted in Leon entering the room with a bowl of the same stuff. The seemingly stoic man raised an eyebrow at them, asking the question he kept himself from asking.

"Say… Squall, what exactly is this wondrous mess you've created for us?"

Sora snapped back up to attention, staring at the Werewolf with a frightened look, "And more importantly! Is it _edible_!?"

Leon growled, taking his seat, "Don't call me that, damn it! How many times do I have to tell you?" Now, he took a chance to look at the others' bowls; they were still filled, "It's Rinoa's special recipe of Acid Stew. She said that it was good for those with strong bodies and minds."

"'Sounds more like she meant it's good for those with gullible minds and muscular bodies." The blonde sighed, getting up and taking the bowl from Leon before going to the window and dumping it out onto the only living daisy flower they had.

Just as he'd thought… it killed the daisy. _Everything_ Rinoa told Leon had to do with trying to get rid of any mortals or Magic-folk, namely himself, so she could have the amazingly hot Werewolf to herself. Cloud really couldn't blame her for liking him so much, but… she just _didn't_ give up!

"—Hey, Sora! You gonna eat yours?" his grumbling voice asked.

The mortal looked over to Cloud, as if asking if it was safe enough for him to eat. After receiving a nod, he pushed the bowl over and got up, approaching him.

"Cloud… who's Rinoa?"

A silent but audible chuckle came from the Warlock as he stared out the window into the darkness they called day.

"She's a witch who specializes in recipes both for eating and for potions. She's got a… rather _huge_ thing for Leon. And since he belongs to me, she's always giving him some kind of recipe for something that helps Werewolves, but is harmful to those of us with magical abilities. In other words…" he turned to the younger boy with a slight grin on his face, "she's trying to get rid of me."

"That's kinda… well, _scary_. I heard from my dad before he died that _'Women are the scariest things when they're angry and have a grudge.'_"

He laughed, placing his black-gloved hand on Sora's soft brown spikes and ruffling them, "Well, your father was wise! —Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go see a witch about getting you a disguise."

"She won't come after me, too, will she?"

"Oh, of course not… She's quite a shy little thing, so you'll have nothing to worry about! I'll call you when I've returned. Why don't you go find Riku?" he asked as he pulled Sora out the door with him, but stopped when he saw a figure in black slowly exit the shadows. He laughed, "Speak of the devil… Forget what I said last, Sora; why don't you let Riku find _you_?"

Turning around, Cloud walked off, laughing all the while.

Sora turned around to face his vampiric friend, smiling brightly, "Hi, Riku! What's up?"

The tall silver-haired boy shrugged, looking up at the sky. The mortal chuckled, shaking his head.

"I mean, what's going on?"

"Well, Roxas and Axel, a couple of friends of mine, are still off investigating that area where we were attacked by those Darksides. If Lady Luck is on our side, then we'll be able to block off that area until all the Darksides disappear."

"Oh, yeah! I almost forgot!" he piped, pulling the Landon Charm out of his pocket and holding it out to Riku, "What exactly is this? It looks like the charm that Cloud gave me to communicate with him."

"Hmm… It's a Darkside Charm; you get it only when a Darkside has taken a liking to you and is defeated." Riku glared at the charm, "Apparently, Landon cared for you… so much, actually, that he was willing to pull your soul down to Hell with him."

Sora shivered at that memory; he'd almost been taken… down _there_. It frightened him to think about it, and it was visible on his face as he stared down at the ground. Riku watched him with gentle eyes, putting his hand on the other's arm and pulling him closer. He embraced the younger one, sighing.

"It'll be alright, now, okay? I won't let anything happen to you…"

The brunette nodded as he pulled away, looking around the surrounding area. It was a new day, or… night? It was slightly brighter than it'd been last night, but was this really what they called day? Oh well, Sora sighed, feeling Cloud's Star Charm float out of his pocket and project him in front of them.

"_Hello again! Hey, Sora, your outfit's ready! From where you're standing, go precisely northwest into the dark yellow store! Naminé has your outfit ready for you!_" Cloud explained, smiling enthusiastically.

Sora looked in the direction he was to go, and saw the store, "There? Okay, then. Can Riku come?"

There was a silent but audible _'Eep!'_ in the background, and Cloud laughed nervously, "_Better not… It'd be a lot more peaceful if he didn't. Surely, you have something else to do, Riku?_"

The said-Vampire nodded, "I guess… I'll see you later, Sora." With that, he turned around and disappeared.

The mortal stared at where he'd vanished for a moment before putting the charm away and walking over to that strangely bright store.

* * *

Pushing open the door, Sora entered the dimly lit room and looked around. He saw Cloud grinning at him, as well as a girl not much older than himself sitting in a chair with some clothes folded in her lap. Blinking, he approached the two and stared at the blonde-haired girl, who was shyly averting her eyes from his to stare down at the clothes.

"So, then… you're Naminé, I take it? I'm Sora!" he introduced in a friendly way, smiling down at her.

Her pale blue eyes timidly looked up at his brilliant blue ones, and she was instantly caught in a gasp of awe. Her pale cheeks reddened as she stared at him, but she cleared her throat and looked back down, holding the clothes out to him.

"I-I… Umm… Cl-Cloud told me you needed something to wear… Th-that is, you're all ready wearing clothes, but… something so that you would fit in better." Looking up again, her blush became more visible, "Umm… Are you… sure you're a human? You're much too… too…"

"Too odd? I get that a lot back home, too…" Sora tried to finish her sentence, but seeing her shake her head, he tilted his head in confusion.

"You look a lot like… _us_, but… much more…" what she said next wasn't audible enough for him to hear, but he didn't want to trouble her, so he didn't bother asking for her to repeat it.

Cloud had nodded; apparently, he heard it, "I got the very same impression when I met him at first, too…" Turning to look at the so-called mortal, he grinned, "Sora, as I said yesterday, there's some kind of power dormant inside of you somewhere. You probably _are_ just like us, but you just haven't awakened those powers yet."

Naminé stood up suddenly, catching both guys' attention. She gently pushed the black clothes she held into Sora's hands, "These clothes… are special. They'll help you release that power…" She managed a weak smile, "I'm sure that… you'll fit in just fine… Sora…"

Sora smiled back confidently, taking the clothes and looking to Cloud, "Where can I put them on? Back at your place?"

"Oh, no, no! There's a dressing room right there!" Cloud speedily shooed him into the said-dressing room, which was actually a very small closet that didn't have a light.

Sighing, he got straight to work and changed out of his old clothes and into the ones that his new friend had created for him.

* * *

"What's taking him so long?" the blonde-haired Warlock asked after 15 minutes, folding his arms and pacing across the room repeatedly.

Naminé blinked, "Perhaps now is a good time to tell you that that door leads to a closet, which is soundproof and has no doorknob on the other side?"

"Y'know, you could've told me that a little bit sooner, Nami…" Cloud chuckled, sweatdropping as he opened the door, only have a seemingly _screaming_ Sora fall out from his repeated attempt on banging on the door.

Pulling himself up to his feet, he grumbled as he glared at the older magician, "It's about time!"

"Yes—well—umm… Sorry?"

A small gasp was heard, and they both looked to the blonde-haired witch, who was staring at Sora with the cutest blush ever seen. Cloud looked up and down the supposed-mortal, examining how his clothes looked on him.

Sora was now wearing a black long-sleeved shirt with a dirty white jacket that looked torn in several places, baggy black pants that were held up by a dark blue belt, blood red ribbons tied around his legs, and huge black shoes with pointy tips that made his feet look like huge elves feet. He also now wore full-white gloves with claw-ish fingers, and little black bat wings on his back. On the left side of his face, he had a sinister-looking pumpkin patch that was winking and seemingly laughing. Only one of his brilliant blue eyes was visible, and it seemed to be in shadow of his _still_ spiky brown hair.

Author's Note: Basically… he's wearing his Halloween Town outfit, okay? Whee!

The Warlock smirked, but couldn't contain his laughter. He chuckled at how different Sora looked now! He'd definitely fit in now!

"Well, well! You did quite a good job, Naminé! I can barely recognize him!" He snickered, placing a hand on her shoulder, "And why'd you gasp? Did he scare you?"

The little witch shook her head, averting her eyes as she whispered something to him that Sora couldn't hear. The tall blonde guy nodded to her, standing up straight from bending down to listen to her.

"Alright, Sora! Why don't you head out and take a look around Halloween Town? I've got to stay here and have a word with Naminé…"

The transformed Sora nodded, "'Kay! I'll see you two around, then! He waved a bit before exiting the shop and walking down a random trail.

This trail… It looked sort of familiar. Could this be the same way he'd walked down yesterday when he met up with Riku and Landon? He shrugged; maybe Axel and Roxas could use a hand? Now that he had this new outfit, they wouldn't suspect a thing about him being a human and not being from this world, right?

The dead trees looked a lot more blackened now… Even though the sky was a little bit brighter now, they looked a lot darker. Was something going on here? Or was this a natural thing?

Sighing, he went down the opposite path in the fork in the road it'd taken yesterday, wondering where _it_ would lead him. After a few minutes, he saw that it came to a dead end… Those withered trees that came up from the dead ground had grew in the middle of the pathway, creating a blockade.

Shrugging, he approached the trees and turned his back on them, falling back into one's trunk and sliding down into a sitting position. His one visible eye stared up at the cloudy and darkened sky; was it always so dark? Sure, it was Halloween Town and all, but why should it be so cloudy?

A spine-chilling wind began to blow at his back, and even his long-sleeve and jacket couldn't shield him from it. A strange sound was whistling on the abnormal breeze…

_**Ooooo…**_

He gulped, pushing himself up to his feet and folding his arms. Looking around, he couldn't see anything… but his ear twitched at the sound of footsteps making their way down the trail he'd taken to get there.

He narrowed his eye as three Werewolves sauntered toward him. He could tell they were Werewolves by the spiked collars around their necks and the smirks on their faces as they approached. They knew he was there… they'd smelt him.

One had long pale lavender hair and an X scar on his face, another had long black hair with dark blue eyes, and the last was big and muscle-y with mud brown hair. It seemed that the one with the scar was the leader… Once he came to a halt, the other two did, as well.

He stepped forward, his smirk becoming toothy, "Well, well… What have we here? A Warlock…?" He sniffed in his direction, "No… No, you're a _human_… but what's a human doing all the way out here?"

Sora glared at the strange Werewolf that was obviously trying to freak him out… and it was working. He backed himself up into the tree trunk again as the Werewolf came nearer… It stopped about two yards away before instantly changing into his Lycan form and pouncing on top of him.

He let out a cry, trying to back up and dodge, but the trees were all ready pushed against his back. The claws of the strange wolf-man were slashing at his new clothes, but they would not rip. He then was scratching at a new target… Sora's face.

"Gaaah!" He shouted, trying to shove the monster off of him, but it was too heavy. The pain in his face was becoming unbearable; "HELP!!!"

A bright shining light suddenly made itself known, causing the Werewolf to howl in agony and rush away from him. His brilliant blue eye was wide in awe as a long black key-like blade appeared before him… His hand reached out and took hold of its hilt, and he was instantly reminded of the weapon Roxas had wielded back on the train…

"Saïx!" the two other Werewolves called out, running to their boss's side.

Spinning the Keyblade for a moment, he glared over to the ones threatening to do him harm and rushed forth toward them. He wasn't much of a swordsman, but he'd played enough video games to know a few moves. All that he _did_ do, though, was swing the weapon around fiercely at them, smashing into them and giving them several cuts and bruises.

They howled in protest, but found that they couldn't do anything against the shining light of the weapon. The three creatures of the night hightailed it out of there, leaving the so-called Human to smile as he spun the Keyblade.

The bright light grew even brighter, and the weapon disappeared into bright sparkles. Sora nodded to himself as he walked back down the trail, wondering if he could go find Riku.

* * *

The silver-haired vampire was walking around the Graveyard, his hands in his pockets. His oceanic eyes laid themselves upon a certain tombstone… It read: "_Here lies Riku Silvette_". When he'd been turned into a Vampire, it just appeared there… He didn't understand why, though. It looked like whenever somebody died, one would just pop up, out of the ground. And whenever somebody who was all ready dead was getting killed for real, their tombstone would just vanish.

He walked along the line, watching for the names of his friends. There was Axel's… but wait, where was Roxas'? He looked all around, but he couldn't see it. Blinking, he turned around as he sensed someone approach.

A shorter male clad in a black outfit had just walked into his view, a bright pumpkin patch on his head. His nose twitched as he tried to identify this stranger by his blood… and he found it to be someone familiar. His oceanic eyes went wide.

"_Sora_?"

The other looked up, one brilliant blue eye visible. A smile came to his lips, and a fang had slipped out to hang over his mouth, "Riku! I was wondering when I'd find you!"

"So, those are your new clothes? I was hardly able to recognize you!" As he took a few steps forward, he was forced to stop when he heard a loud yell coming from farther in the Graveyard.

"NO!!!!"

He froze; that was Axel's voice! Immediately, he turned around and dashed into the area, knowing that Sora was following behind him. Running through the dead trees and the tombstones, he finally stopped when he saw his red-haired friend on his knees with a grim look on his face as he stared down at the ground.

The only thing that looked out of the ordinary… was the fact that a BloodRed Spirit Dragon was wrapped around him, fire radiating from it. A Lightning-yellow colored Spirit Dragon entwined with his, but no one else was around… Where was it coming from?

Axel looked up; his usually bright emerald eyes were downcast and puffy. His face was shiny and wet; he'd been crying, "Riku… he's gone…"

"Shh! Who's gone, Axel?" Riku asked as he dropping down beside his friend and put a hand on his shoulder, not even fazed by the fact that the BloodRed Dragon was hissing at how close he was to its master.

"Roxas… A band of raging Werewolves came running down here and killed him! He was doing just fine in fighting against them, but then his Keyblade disappeared on him! He was _defenseless_, Riku! **DEFENSELESS**! And I couldn't do anything to save him!"

The spiky redhead was getting hysterical, and the Dragon around him was reflecting it, wrapping itself around the LightningFlash Dragon in emphasis. The yellow one must have been Roxas'…

Sora's eyes went wide at the realization; when the weapon had appeared for him before… It'd been Roxas'. Gulping silently, he took a step backward. Sure, he felt sorry for Axel and all, but what would he do if he found out that Sora had accidentally called the Keyblade to him in battle?

Turning around with an escape in mind, he was stopped before he could even start when he wound up face-to-face with another person wearing that black cloak that all the Vampires seemed to wear.

"And where do ya reckon yer goin'?" This Vampire looked strange… He had long hair pulled back into a ponytail, and had an eye patch over one of his eyes.

Again, Sora gulped, staring up at him, "Err… Nowhere, I'm guessing."

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

Whee! I updated! As I've said before, I'm gonna keep writing this, no matter how much I love .hack//G.U.! LoL! Since you guys are giving me so many Reviews, I feel so special! And Loved! I'll keep writing for you guys, so just keep sending in Reviews, and I'll continue writing!

--Oh yeah, and, uh... The next chapter may take a bit longer now. I usually write the following chapter, and then post it after I finish the chapter after that one, but it seems my little plan as met it's downfall. Oh well! I'll just have to cope with it. Later!


	7. 06: From the Heart

**: Fragment No. 6 :**

**_From the Heart_**

Again, Sora gulped, staring up at him, "Err… Nowhere, I guess." He mumbled, taking a step backward, "Uh-uhm…"

"I nev'r done seen ya before…" the one with the eye patch said, his visible gold eye narrowing as the pupil went slitted, "Yer human… ain't ya?"

The spiky-haired brunette just stared with wide and blank blue eyes at the other, slowly nodding as if with difficulty, "Y-yes…"

"Well, then… how's 'bout a _bite_?" He leant forward toward Sora, the smaller one automatically moving his head to the other side at an angle.

"Sora!!"

The human's eyes sparkled back to normal as he jumped back, away from the Vampire trying to bite him. A surprised yet frightened look was on his face as he did his best to look anywhere but back at his face.

"_Damn it_…"

"Xigbar, leave him alone!" Riku commanded, running in and stopping beside his friend, putting his arms around his shoulders and holding him close, "This one's mine, you hear me?"

"But, that there ain't fair, Riku! How come _you_ get the cute little human?" the eye patched one called Xigbar replied with another question.

"Because this _'cute little human'_ is **my** friend! Nobody's allowed to even _touch_ him without my permission, _got it_?" the silver-haired Vampire glared, putting venomous emphasis on his last two words.

Xigbar flinched, but nodded unpleasantly before exiting. This left Riku to let Sora go and look him over for any scratches or bite marks.

"Are you alright? He didn't actually bite you, did he?" he asked worriedly.

"No! No, he didn't; you came in just in time." Sora answered, smiling brightly with a light blush on his face. He looked down for a moment, but his brilliant blue eyes look back up at Riku, "Uhm… Were you really… worried about me?"

The older just smirked, putting his gloved hand over the other's soft spiky hair and ruffling it fondly, "I kinda have to be, don't I? I've got to protect you as long as you stay here in Halloween Town, since it was partly my fault you came, right?"

"Hmm… _true_." Came an answer as he began to chuckle.

Axel blinked, watching Riku and his friend talking in the distance. How could they laugh? How could they even _smile_ when… Roxas is gone… He bites his lip as the full force of the loss begins to slowly fall onto his shoulders, but then he notices something. His emerald green eyes went slitted as he gave Sora a Vampire's **_Death Glare_**.

He looked so much like him… and he smelt like… the _Keyblade_!? Now, he could see straight through that disguise he was wearing; he was a human and the Vampire could see that he wielded the Keyblade that his beloved best friend once had.

Anger swelled in his dark Heart, "_You!_" he roared, getting to his feet and pointing accusingly at the newcomer, "_You're the one who made it disappear! **You killed Roxas**!!_"

Sora, fright visible in his eyes until determination won over his features, stepped forward, "No! I-I didn't! At least, I didn't _mean_ to…" He tried to explain, but he was obviously not doing a very good job of it, "Three Werewolves tried to jump me and it just… sorta came to me."

"I'm _so_ sure! I'll bet you provoked them on purpose, knowing full-well that they'd go after the first Vampire that cross their pa—"

"They attacked because they could tell that I'm human!!" the brunette interrupted, a sympathetic expression on his face, "I'm really sorry, Axel… I didn't mean to harm Roxas, especially in such an awful way."

The red-haired Vampire just stared at him; he almost seemed to understand… The anger inside of him, however, only grew larger, taking control of his actions and body. His BloodRed Dragon spirit was roaring and hissing frantically, fueled by the flames that were now encircling the two in a ring.

Sora would gasp as the wall of flames trapped him away from the rest of the dark world.

"Sora!!" Riku's voice called out from the other side of the fire.

"Riku!" he called back as he looked for a way out but not finding one. He immediately looked back to the crazed pyromaniac.

"_You **BASTARD**!!!_" Axel shouted in anguish as two flaming chakram appeared in his grasp, "_You'll pay for it! It's only fair; a life for a life!_"

The human took a step back in surprise; was Axel really going to _kill_ him? The flames suddenly blew up behind him, pushing him forward a bit, closer to the one whom wanted to see him dead. He wound up taking one more step backward before the other took up a fighting stance.

The redhead shot out at him, running at a swift speed and spinning his chakram in his hands all the while. He let out a low battle cry that slowly got louder and louder the closer he got. But just when he slashed at his opponent with his flaming weapons, he was pushed back by the sound and feel of the two clanging into another object.

He'd been _forced_ back, away from the strange looking Keyblade that now came to the human's aid. It was black, much like Roxas's PumpkinKing Keyblade, but this one looked more sinister and dark. A dark violet jewel was in the center of its hilt and a black crown charm served for its Keychain.

"_What the…?_"

Sora stood up from his own fighting stance and looked at Axel with worried eyes. The Vampire froze.

Those eyes… Those wonderfully impossible blue eyes… looked _exactly_ like **his** Roxas's. He bit his lip once again before spinning his weapons and yelling.

"_**Damn** it… Stop looking at me with his eyes!!_" He would rush forth again, his chakram darting at the ready.

The brunette closed his eyes tightly, holding the Oblivion Keyblade in front of him in hopes that it could stop the Vampire in his tracks, like it had before.

Suddenly, a bright flash of light occurred as Axel's weapons shot out for the second time at the human. A figure materialized in front of him and protected him from the attack.

Sora opened his brilliant blue hues slowly, seeing familiar silver hair glisten in the light from the fire. A smile came to his lips as he thought of whom it was.

"Riku…?"

A shake of the head confused him for a moment, but then the face turned to look at him over its shoulder. Golden eyes twinkled as pointed teeth hung out of its mouth.

"_I'm here to help… my beloved Sora…_"

"Landon!?" he asked, eyes wide in surprise.

"_So, then, another player has joined the game? **Fine**!_" Axel shouted, jumping back from his two opponents before throwing his flaming chakram at them like boomerangs.

"_Shall we, then, Sora?_" Riku's DarkSide asked, smirking toothily.

"We shall! Get ready!" he replied, spinning the Oblivion in his hand before throwing _it_ like a boomerang at the two weapons flying their way. The long key-like sword deflected the attack before swinging itself back to its owner, but that wasn't the last time it'd go airborne, "C'mon!!"

He tossed it out again, this time hitting Axel with it. It came back to Sora's hand, but before he could throw it one last time for the _Strike Raid's_ final hit of the combo, _Final Judgment_, the Chakram rammed themselves into him. He let out a gasp as he suddenly flew backward into the flames, now screaming as the fire tried to penetrate his clothes to burn at his skin. His already revealed skin was getting burnt, but he did his best to resist it.

Landon fly up to him, pulling him out of the flaming wall and putting him gently down at the ground again, "_Stay put, now… It's my turn!_" He turned to Axel, hissing inhumanely with his freakishly wide mouth. Several pointed teeth began to glow bright white as he disappeared, reappearing directly behind the redhead and biting into his left arm.

"Gaah!" the Vampire cried, moving his arm up and down frantically in an attempt to get the DarkSide off of him, "_Get the Hell off!!_"

"_Then leave my beloved out of this!_" Landon shouted back, but his voice was muffled thanks to his teeth being embedded straight through his leather cloak and into his skin. He picked up his right hand, his fingers growing 12-inches longer. He smirked devilishly as he forced his claws clear _through_ the other's right arm.

"_Aaaaah!!!_" Axel yelled, his BloodRed Dragon finally figuring a way to be useful.

It wrapped itself around Landon's transparent form, tightening its body around him in an attempt to kill him in its own way.

"_Ur-urggh… gaah…_" the DarkSide groaned, his teeth and fingers coming out of Axel's arms and going back to normal size.

"Landon!!" Sora called, "Come back! That's enough!!"

Landon opened his golden eyes, his pained frown turning into a weak grin before he faded away completely. The Landon Charm appeared back in his pocket, where it would stay until its loved one needed any more assistance.

"I won't let you hurt anyone anymore! I didn't do it to Roxas on purpose, Axel! If you choose not to believe me, then so be it!!" Sora declared, spinning Oblivion once more before running forward to meet his opponent in close-combat.

He'd swing his Keyblade to pull off an upward oblique slice, then a horizontal slash and a vertical one before spinning around in a full circle to bring the blade back down in a downward oblique slash. Jumping back harshly, he'd slide to a stop before spinning his Keyblade and throwing it at Axel again in a _Strike Raid_ attack.

Axel, severely weakened now, held his chakram up in an attempt to block the attacks. He glared, his defense wasn't working and he was still taking damage. With the Keyblade flying at him, he'd let out a roar as a pillar of flames appeared all around him, engulfing him.

Oblivion merely knocked itself into the pillar and fell to the floor. Axel saw this as his chance… his chance to avenge his fallen comrade. He hurried forward in an attempt to grab the weapon and use it against the human, but before he could even get his hands on it, it disappeared in a flash of light and reappeared in the other's grasp.

Anger gripped him once again as he jumped backward into the flames that surrounded them. Suddenly, the floor turned into hot lava, and the longer Sora just stood there, the more damage _he_ would receive.

Growling, Sora did his very best to keep an eye on where Axel had gone, but it was so difficult… He kept on moving! But then, he suddenly dived back into the battlefield, creating pillars of fire all around them. The new Keyblade Wielder merely growled once more before jumping upward to meet Axel in the air.

Axel swung with his Chakram, but Sora easily blocked them with his Oblivion as he shoved those flaming weapons back into the other's body, giving him damage from his own attacks.

Sora would then pull off a quick reaction that the name _Clear Light_ just seemed to fit. He would, instead of shoving his weapons into him, shove _Axel_ back down into the floor. The lava disappeared and so did the pillars, though the wall stayed put. Sora landed on top of Axel, smashing his Keyblade into his chest.

Apparently, however, he wasn't fast enough to get off because the pyromaniac had just grabbed his leg. Blue eyes looked down to meet with emerald green; a smirk curled on the other's lips as a pillar of flame burst up from the ground, engulfing the both of them. Sora let out a scream as the flames worked their magic, burning at him and dealing loads of damage.

Regaining composure, he stabbed his Keyblade at Axel's hand, forcing him to release him. He immediately hopped out of the pillar and jumped back to where he stood at the start of this whole battle. He panted tiredly, pushing his Oblivion Keyblade into the ground beside him and leaning on it in an attempt to keep himself standing.

Axel slowly got to his feet, that smirk still there, "_What's wrong? Getting tired?_"

"Axel!! What the hell is wrong with you!?! You're getting all worked up over nothing!!" came Riku's voice from the other side of the wall.

"_Says you!! I'm just trying to avenge Roxas… You should be, too, Riku! But, **no**… You went and fell for a **human**, didn't you? I saw him! I saw Landon helping him, Riku! Your DarkSide is the side of you that you would never show!_" Axel was beginning to get angry again, "_After I kill him, I'm going after **you** next!!_"

He spun his Chakram, the flames igniting them again. He would rush forward in hopes of this being the final attack before the human at last can die.

"_Now… YOU'RE FINISHED!!_" a pillar of flames appears, trailing behind him as he approaches swiftly.

"A-aaaah!!!" Sora screams, trying to protect himself with Oblivion again.

It is then… that everything went _white_. They were no longer in Halloween Town, and the flames were no longer imprisoning them.

"_Axel, you have to stop this!_" a voice calls.

Axel freezes with wide eyes. A light begins to sparkle before him, growing larger and larger until… standing in front of the weakened Sora protectively… is **_Roxas_**.

"R-Roxas…?"

The pillar of flames that had been following behind him faded away and the pyromaniac's eyes go back to normal. A look of disbelief comes over his face, as well as concern for his best friend.

"Wh… what happened? When your Dragon spirit came to me, I thought you…"

Roxas smiles gently, "_I'm fine, Axel… I just had to help Sora out, y'see? He's…_" he pauses for a moment, looking down at the non-existent ground before back up at the redhead, "_my **other**. Whenever he's in trouble, it's my job to protect him…_"

"But… but _why_? He's just a human!" Axel protests.

"_And that seems to be the main reason, then. Humans can't stay here in Halloween Town without being targeted by just about everyone. I can't merely leave him to die, Axel… because if he dies, **I** die._"

Axel finds it hard to believe, but he understands. This was probably why Sora looked so much like Roxas, or rather, why Roxas looks so much like Sora.

Sora's Oblivion Keyblade faded out of his grasp, and Roxas's transparent body became solid. The setting reappeared around them and the wall of flames was burning out.

Riku ran into the area, grabbing Sora and pulling him back into a hug, "You're alive! I knew you'd live through it! Axel isn't _that_ stupid!"

"HEY!! I heard that, you human-loving moron!" Axel snapped, smirking.

Roxas approached his red-haired best friend, feeling an arm being placed around his shoulders. He smiled, leaning on his friend's stomach. Yup, he was still _that_ short, but Axel didn't care about that.

Sora laughed at the joke, but then all got quiet when he looked over to his once-enemy. Axel was still smirking, but he picked up his free hand and gave him a thumbs-up.

"Sorry for… well, _everything_, Sora." He apologized, "I won't have a problem with you anymore… but you can bet I'm not gonna let Riku live it down!"

The human laughed again, nodding, "That's fine in my book, then! Don't turn into a big softy on my account!"

"_Hey_!" Riku mumbled, lightly punching Sora's shoulder as he stood beside him, his arms not folded with a huge grin on his face.

"We've got somewhere to go right now, but we'll see you two around!" Roxas explained, waving a bit, "Later, Sora!"

"Bye, Roxas!" Sora bade them farewell, watching them leave before looking to his Vampire companion, "So, what's next? Any other bad eggs around that I need to teach a lesson?" He was smirking… What the hell, he was being _cocky_.

"C'mere, you…" Riku chuckled, putting his arm around his friend's shoulders and turning them around to leave the Graveyard, "I guess I'll just have to take you around with me on my missions now… A Keyblade Master is _just_ what I've been needing around here…"

_Keyblade Master… I like the sound of that!_ Sora thought, smiling brightly as they walked down the once-spooky pathway.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** Taahaa!! I've finally updated! And I'll tell y'all the truth, I actually didn't write this for a helluva long time. xD!! I _just_ wrote this and finished writing this morning. Then I went straight to work on **.hack//W.O.**. 

I ACTUALLY WROTE AN ACTION SCENE!!--AND A HELLA _LONG _ONE, TOO!! X3! I'm so proud of myself... LoL!! Naa, I just had to keep looking from my KH2 book several times to see what Axel's attacks were. xD! I could hardly remember from the game since I beat it a long time ago.

Anywayz! Reviews? Please? I chose to continue this for all of you, yeaz! So tell meh what'cha think? And before any of you say anything, I know I wound up repeating a lot of things. x3 Sorry!


	8. 07: Appearance of the Wicked

**: Fragment No. 7 :**

**_Appearance of the Wicked_**

Riku would smile fondly at the special little human walking alongside him. He'd just succeeded in making him laugh by telling him a joke that Axel had told him. At the time, the silver-haired one had not liked jokes and hadn't even cracked a smile when the pyromaniac told it to him. Now, however, he found it quite amusing… it was probably because he was able to put that bright smile on his friend's face.

Sora made him feel… _truly_ happy.

They were on their way back down the old and spooky pathway toward Halloween Town now, memories of what had just happened still fresh in their minds.

Axel was a pretty okay guy… He was easy to get along with, but if he gets the wrong idea, you could get into one hell of a pickle. Getting into a fight with that fiery-haired man could be enough to get you killed… but apparently, he's not the most dangerous person there in Halloween Town. This thought completely frightened Sora, because Axel was a tough opponent… He was only lucky that the Keyblade had come to him in time.

It was then that Riku came to a sudden halt, eyes wide. Sora too stopped, looking back to his Vampiric best friend.

"Is something wrong, Riku?"

The Vampire's eyes narrowed, "Yeah… as a matter of fact, there is." He quickly snatched up Sora's hand and pulled him into a tight embrace as he began to hiss.

The human was, by now, beginning to feel a bit uncomfortable. What was going on?

"_Do you seriously think that you can keep him safe?_" a female voice rang.

Sora blinked; that voice… It had an echo to it! That meant that whoever it was that'd appeared was a DarkSide! No _wonder_ Riku was holding onto him… _protectively_. He blushed lightly; the other was just trying to keep him safe from another DarkSide attack.

"To Hell with _thinking_! I **will** keep him safe! Now, what do you want with him, Kairi?" the Vampire hissed venomously.

The human shakily turned his head, enough to be able to see the DarkSide of whom Riku was talking to.

Wait… This girl didn't look like a DarkSide. Well, at least, like any of them that Sora had seen so far.

She was dressed in a RosePink-colored Witches' outfit, complete with the pointy hat and pointy fingernails… Okay, so maybe all girls had those, but _still_! Her hair was around shoulder-length and was a dark-ish crimson red color, and she also had darkened blue eyes that were, at the moment, narrowed in amusement at him.

He pouted; just _what_ exactly was so amusing? Was he a clown to these weirdoes in Halloween Town? Did he have a huge red nose that when you squeeze it, it lets out a **_HONK!!_** noise? Thinking about this only made him turn red with embarrassment, causing him to bark.

"What're you looking at!?"

This girl, _'Kairi'_, merely chuckled, "_I'm looking at my Master's new toy…_" She looked over to Riku, her eyes flashing from blue to red to blue again, "_Hand him over peacefully, and things won't have to get ugly, Riku._"

* * *

"Hey, Squall! Do me a favor and go get some more Bat-Repellant. We've run out." The Warlock known as Cloud commanded, looking over to the Werewolf who was currently biting at his spiked collar in an attempt to remove it, "Oh, yeah… and don't try to take it off, 'cause it won't." 

"That's _Leon_." The brunette growled, getting to his feet and folding his arms, "Do I have to? I mean, sure, I hate Vampires and Bats as much as you do, but what's with the repellant?"

The blonde smiled grimly, "I never told you… did I?"

Leon tilted his head a bit in confusion, but his nose twitched as he tried to get an answer without hearing it. A certain scent that he'd never noticed was suddenly present within Cloud's overall scent. Smoky grey eyes narrowed with seriousness as he nodded in understanding.

"Alright, then… I'll go out and find some for you." He mumbled, turning around and hightailing it out of there.

Cloud ran a hand through his spiky blonde hair, sighing in relief. He didn't like saying it aloud, in case there were eavesdroppers around, but he was actually _allergic_ to Vampires and Bats. This was his reason for not being around whenever Sora was with Riku, and for why he was sitting clear on the opposite end of the train from where Riku and his little gang were sitting.

He was about to lean back against the counter, when suddenly, huge swarms of bats began to flood into his house from one of the back windows that didn't have glass. He cursed under his breath before calling upon a spell to help him out.

"**_Reflega!_**" he called, a barrier surrounding him and staying up to protect him from the bane of his existence.

The black bats kept ramming themselves into the barrier, creating cracks in the protection that Cloud had been relying on. He growled, turning around and breaking out through the window to his right. The glass shattered to pieces and cut small scratches in his clothing before he could land, but when he did, he turned and ran off toward another end of the forest. The winged creatures followed after him.

The houses of the town were slowly melting away from his vision as he dashed for the forest, only dry and dead trees before him now. Slipping his right hand into his pocket, he pulled out a small silvery charm of a lion's head with a cross beneath it, closing his fingers tightly around the object.

_Leon… Leon, please! Come and help me! The bats have come after me!_ He shouted mentally, hoping that his words would reach his pet, but alas, he knew it'd be in vain.

This LionHeart Charm was one-of-two; this was the one Cloud could use to call Leon, while the other would have to be hooked onto Leon's collar. Unfortunately, every time he asked the Werewolf to put it on, he would refuse. As a matter of fact, the last time, the blonde had gone so far as to _beg_ the other. _'If you love me, you'll put it on!!'_ he'd said. Leon hadn't answered, so he just gave up after that.

Cloud shut his eyes tightly as all hope seemed to be draining away. He looked back over his shoulder, dark blue eyes going wide at the sight.

The bats were already so close! Biting his lip to keep himself from shouting out, he continued running as fast as he could… until he tripped on a stray tree root. Falling down, he instantly got to his hands and looked back to see if they were still coming at him.

They were too close!! He shut his eyes, praying to God that this wasn't the end for him.

"**_Reflega!!_**"

His eyes snapped open; so it wasn't his time yet, huh? He looked up, seeing a woman with dark brown hair and a black Witches' outfit. She was holding her black-gloved hands out in front of her as she held up the barrier.

"Hey, Cloud! Need a hand?" she grinned amusedly, looking back over her shoulder at him with soft brown eyes.

Cloud shut his eyes again, his eyebrow twitching in annoyance as he stood up and grinned angrily, "Damn it, Tifa; can't you keep your goddamn DarkSide under control??"

"If I could, do you think we'd be here right now?"

The bats screech loudly, crashing into the barriers again, but no crack could be seen. It was obvious that Tifa wasn't allergic to them… The creatures of the night separated, leaving a trail between them for someone to walk down. Cloud and Tifa knew what was going on…

Rinoa had appeared. She looked nearly exactly like Tifa… but not the face. She smiled sweetly at them, a hand on her hip.

"Tifa… Why did you leave the house? I told you not to… I told you what I was going to do…"

The witch clad in black glared at her DarkSide, "Which is exactly why I came! I couldn't just let you kill him! What's _wrong_ with you, Rinoa?"

"Nothing… Nothing's wrong with me…" Rinoa replied, her sweet smile growing to the freakishly wide one that only a DarkSide could pull off, "Why am I the one to be blamed? Cloud's the one who's making life harder… Cloud's the one who has Leon… Cloud's the one who's making Leon _gay_…

"So, why not kill him? It'd make life so much easier… So… _so_ much easier…"

Tifa growled, taking a step forward, "You _know_ the rules!! If a Werewolf's Master dies, then the Werewolf will die, too! So, if you kill Cloud, you're also killing Leon!"

"Don't try to protect him, Tifa!! I know you've fancied him for the longest time!!" the DarkSide snapped back, fingers growing 12-inches longer, "We were never the same, even though I came from you… You liked one and I liked the other… Well, at least this way, we can both be happy! If I kill the both of you, you'll both be together! And if Leon gets killed automatically, I will, too! We'll all… be _together_…"

"Rinoa, _LISTEN TO YOURSELF_!!" Tifa shouted.

"_I'M DONE LISTENING!!_" Rinoa pointed a long finger at them, "_Take them down, my army of Bats!_"

The bats went back into action, pushing the Reflega barrier spell back into them, causing the space inside the barrier to get smaller and smaller. Cloud and Tifa backed up so that they were back-to-back.

"Heh, looks like the end for me…" the blonde mumbled grimly.

"No, Cloud! This won't end anything! I'll figure this out…" she kept trying to push the barrier back to its original size, but there were too many bats pushing in on them.

Cloud sighed, his eyes drifting closed as the image of his Werewolf pet came to mind. A silent tear rolled down his cheek as he thought of his final words, _I love you, Squall…_

_**BANG!!!**_

All the bats disappeared in a flash of grey light, and Rinoa was screaming out in agony. She picked up a long-fingered hand to hold it to the huge hole through her chest, black blood bleeding out of it.

Her eyes were as wide as possible and she was hissing at the pain in an attempt to keep from screaming again. She slowly struggled to turn around, facing toward the hill behind them all. All eyes went wide at what they saw.

There, standing on top of the hill, was Squall Leonhart, with a long Silver Gunblade held over his right shoulder. His smoky eyes were narrowed into a glare at the DarkSide who had deceived him for the longest time.

"Stay away from my Master…" he said simply, pulling the weapon off of his shoulder and pointing it at her again.

**_BANG!_** The shot echoed through the air as it sped toward its target. Rinoa let out a terrible shriek as she disappeared into nothing.

She did, like all DarkSides; leave behind a DarkSide Charm.

Leon jumped off of the hill, landing right in front of the charm. Picking it up with his free hand, he stared at it for a moment before closing his fingers over it and crushing it to pieces. He'd then turn his eyes on Cloud, grey meeting blue.

"You okay…?"

The blonde nodded slowly, taking shaking steps toward his pet as he picked up a hand in an attempt to grab at him, "Sq-Squall…" He stuttered, falling forward as the Werewolf caught him.

He was shaking furiously, the situation having stunned him, "I seriously thought… I was going to die…"

Leon put his arms around his Master, holding him close in an attempt to calm him down, "You didn't, alright? Everything's fine, now…"

Cloud's wide eyes moved to the Lycan's right hand. He was holding onto his old Silver Gunblade, and steam was rising from his palm and fingers.

"Squall!!" he shouted, slapping his hand and forcing him to drop the weapon, "You _know_ that Silver can kill you! What were you thinking!?"

"I was _thinking_ about saving your sorry ass from Rinoa!" Leon snapped, but he calmed himself and wound up looking away with a light blush on his face, "Especially… after hearing what you said…"

Cloud blinked in confusion, but then he saw the shining golden-color of the other half of the Werewolf Charm, hanging off of his collar. His face reddened significantly, as well: he'd heard him… Everything he'd thought while holding the charm… Leon had heard it _all_.

He gently pushed himself away from the Werewolf, but the taller one's arms only tightened around his waist, bringing him closer to him. The brunette lowered his head to the blonde's ear, whispering silently.

"I love you, too…"

* * *

"It's kinda too late, because you've already taken it too far!!" Riku spat, letting go of Sora and rushing forward to the DarkSide lackey of the Dark Lord. 

His finger grew into long claws as he pulled his hand back to strike her, his eyes blood red with fury. This girl was a risky move for one pulling the strings… and Riku knew this too well.

Kairi easily stepped out of the way, her own claws slicing through the air to catch him at his back. The Vampire winced a bit, but ignored the meek pain at his back in favor of catching his opponent off guard. He swung his nails through her shoulder and moved his head forth to bite her full on the neck.

The DarkSide let out a cry at the double-attack, the dark blue eyes she'd been using as a disguise melting away into golden yellow ones.

Sora watched in horror as his best friend released the full potential of his Vampiric powers upon the what-seemed-to-be-a-normal-girl-but-wasn't. His brilliant blue eyes were wide with fright, taking a step back in a flinch. He'd _never_ get used to this…

Kairi glared at the Vampire, pulling up her claws and forcing him away from her. She turned hungrily toward Sora, her mouth growing wide and showing two rows of pointed teeth. A thin and extremely long tongue hung out of it as it licked her lips before she dashed for the human, pulling her hand back for an attack.

The spiky-haired brunette froze at this sight, but he knew exactly what to do. He held his hand out to his side, and there, appeared a bright white-ish silver Keyblade called the Oathkeeper. He held it out in front of him, mentally praying for it to protect as it had before in the battles against Axel.

Riku too noticed her shift in opponents, but he wouldn't let her harm _his_ Sora. He disappeared and reappeared in between the both of them, only to make it a bit too late. The Light had already began to flash from the Keyblade, protecting Sora not only from the wrath of Kairi, but also from the Darkness that was held within Riku.

The two creatures let out cries, the female passing out and falling to the ground, as the other merely fell to one knee and was panting furiously. Sora blinked, seeing the damage he'd done to his partner by mistake. He immediately came to his side.

"Riku! I'm so sorry, are you alrigh—" he wasn't even able to finish saying that word as he put a hand on the other's shoulder.

Riku let out another cry of pain at the feeling; Sora was now made of near-completely pure Light… With the Darkness inside of him, he couldn't touch or be touched without feeling pain.

The human pulled his hand away instantly, a worried look on his face, "Riku… please, tell me what's going on?"

"It… It's nothing… d-don't worry about it, Sora." Riku lied, smiling toothily at his friend.

His eyes snapped wide open as he saw something black start to blurrily appear behind his face, "Sora, watch ou—"

It was too late. Sora's brilliant blue eyes lost their Light and went a duller blue color as he fell forward into his arms, only to be dropped due to pain. It was plain to see that he was unconscious. Riku looked to the blur, seeing it materialize beside the fallen DarkSide.

The figure… He was tall and wore the black cloak of the Vampires, but it was wide open from the waist down to reveal tight leather pants. He had two silver belts strapped across his chest in an 'X' and wore black gloves. The most noticeable thing about him; however… was his long platinum silver locks and wise aqua eyes.

Riku's eyes were wide in both surprise and _fear_.

"S-Sephiroth!"

A smirk came to his lips as he watched the younger Vampire's expression, "Fancy meeting _you_ here… I thought I'd taken care of you already, _Riku_…"

There had once, long ago, been an awful battle between the two of them, nearly costing Riku his life. If it hadn't had been for Naminé, he wouldn't be alive right now.

Riku was severely nervous… Sora was a Keyblade wielder, and Sephiroth had gotten rid of them all in the past. Riku himself had once been able to wield one, but Sephiroth had left him half-dead and unable to wield blades of _any_ kind.

The powerful Dark Lord chuckled cruelly, picking up the fainted DarkSide and holding her over his shoulder, "I know what you're thinking… but don't worry, I won't come for your precious little human just yet. He _is_ quite an interesting one, I'll give you that." He laughed again, "I'd be careful if I were you! He's made of nearly pure Light… Do you think you'll be able to stay near him any longer?"

Riku was about to reply, but the villain was gone. He'd have to take care of Sora… _somehow_.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

Yeah, I know it took a while! But I had no muse! And now, I have more ideas than ever! You can bet I'll be updating whenever I can, now! Here's the thing, though: School is getting tougher and tougher, especially with High School Registration coming up. Gaah! This is gonna be such a drag!

But still, feel free to Review! If I don't have _at least_ **75 Reviews**, then I'm not gonna update. LoLz! In other words, that's my ransom! D: LoLz! Until next time!

--Oh yeaz, and I had to repost this chapter 'cause I had a better idea and dearly beloved _Fushica_ reminded me that Leon's a SilverWeapon-wielding Werewolf. xD! Yeaz, so I hope it makes sense now? X3

**Carry On!**


	9. 08: Control: Gained or Lost?

**: Fragment No. 8 :**

_**Control: Gained or Lost?**_

Though with much difficulty and pain, Riku had cautiously picked up the younger boy in his arms, bridal-style. He winced a bit, but he was beginning to get used to the burning feeling. Immediately, he sped down the pathway through the deadened woods, back into the town. To all the passersby, he was nothing but a rapid force of wind blowing by. None except for fellow Vampires could spot him rushing through the town, and perhaps the Werewolves could catch onto his scent… along with the half-human.

The silver-haired Vampire looked down at the beautiful little one in his arms; could he truly be called a total-human after having been here… even if it _was_ just one, maybe two, days? He possessed the power to do Magic… and he also possessed the power to control a Keyblade. No… not a Keyblade, but multiple Keyblades! He bit his lip; if Sora were to stay in Halloween Town any longer… not only would he possibly be forgotten from his own World and be forced to stay there… but Sephiroth could get a hold of him.

This fact frightened him the most, like not many things could. He came to a sudden stop in front of Cloud's place, eyeing the broken glass of the window. He carefully entered the building, seeing many things knocked over and broken. His nose twitched, instantly telling him the story.

DarkSide bats. Nasty little things, they were, but useful… Riku could also smell the scent of Vampire Repellant, although, very faint. It wouldn't harm him with how much it'd faded away. Apparently, it hadn't done much against the bats, either, from the looks of things. Shaking his head, he cleaned up a bed that smelt of the one in his grasp and laid him down softly on it.

His body gave a groan of relief from the release of pain; it wasn't an easy task, transporting one of near-pure Light when you yourself had been near-pure Darkness. He watched the sleeping one, his serious look softening significantly.

_He looks so peaceful… I wish I could sleep like that…_ He thought with envy. Reaching out a hand, he was actually about to touch his cheek, but he caught himself. Trying to snap himself out of it, he realized that if he stayed any longer, something might happen. A blackish glow emanated from that outstretched hand as a small, folded piece of paper appeared there. He gently placed it beside the boy and turned around, glancing once more over his shoulder before fading away into a shadow.

* * *

"_Oh_, Squall…"

_Huh…? Whose voice is…? Wait…_

"Grr… That's _Leon_."

_That's Leon's voice… and… Cloud! But… what're they…?_ Sora made a confused look as he was slowly beginning to gain consciousness. All he could hear were many groans… and a smacking sound… and heavy breathing.

His brilliant blue eyes snapped open; they must've been in trouble!! He sat up immediately, jumping out of bed and rushing to the door. Slamming it open, the Oathkeeper Keyblade appeared in his hands.

"Cloud! Leon! Are you guys all—" he froze, seeing that Leon had Cloud trapped against the wall with his arms keeping him from escaping. And Cloud didn't seem to be objecting to whatever was going on, "right…?"

The Warlock was blushing brightly, gently pushing the Werewolf away from him, only to receive a quiet growl in return. The blonde cleared his throat.

"Yeah, Sora! We're fine, but what about you? When we got back, we found you passed out on the bed. Rough time out there with Riku?"

"Well…" Sora picked up a hand and scratched at his cheek some; he didn't exactly remember what happened very well. He remembered walking along with Riku… talking and joking around… and then some kind of normal-looking DarkSide came… then nothing. "I don't know, to tell the truth… but oh well, I guess."

"Hey, what's this?"

The two who'd been conversing looked to the Werewolf, only to see him walk out of Sora's room with a folded up piece of paper in hand. On the front, it had the name SORA written in big letters.

"It's from Riku!" Sora gasped, dashing up to his taller friend and snatching it out of his grasp before he could open it. His eyes followed the words quickly, imagining the real person saying them in his head.

"_Sora, a few things happened earlier that you probably don't remember… Meet me back in the Woods as soon as you get this message. –Riku"_

He grinned slightly, folding it back up and slipping it into his pocket before walking for the door, "He wants me to meet him in the woods right away! I'll see you guys later!" He waved at them over his shoulder before exiting.

* * *

The spiky-haired brunette walked back up the pathway to the woods, a pleasant smile on his face, although, it looked more _creepy_ than pleasant thanks to his new Halloween Town look. His brilliant blue eyes wouldn't stay in one place for very long as he looked around everywhere, hoping to see any sign of his Vampiric best friend.

Once he'd reached a familiar dead-end tree, he blinked as he heard the rustling of many leaves… loud and noisy footsteps sounding far away and yet very near. He turned left, and then turned right… looking for the direction they could be coming from.

Suddenly, he heard a loud grunt behind the tree and looked up, only to see a very, _very_ handsome redhead flip over the top of the dead tree and land with a soft **thud** a few feet away from him. Sora watched with awe as he found himself staring.

The man had long red hair, much like Axel's, but this guy had it tied into a ponytail. He wore a worn-out white shirt with a near-shredded black jacket that hung over him like rags. His long black pants were dirty and torn at the bottom where he wore mud-splashed boots.

And that was only from what Sora could see of the guy from _behind_. He blushed lightly as he saw the man slowly turn around to look at him. He was immediately met with oceanic eyes, much like Riku's… but the one's eyes seemed to be more blue than green.

The human couldn't remove his gaze from the others, blushing even more visibly when he saw an animal-like smile curl on his face. The redhead turned to approach him, showing that he was holding something in his hands… something that looked like a nice, little Silver Gun. Steam was rising from his skin, however, making Sora wonder if he was a Werewolf or a Vampire. The collar around his neck told him that he was, indeed, a Werewolf.

The man leant forward and pressed the gun into Sora's hands before winking at him and turning around. Again, he began to run off, leaving the confused human there to ponder why he was given the strange-looking weapon.

"I think he came this way!" a feminine voice cried in the distance.

"He did… he did! I can smell him!!" a more aggressive and masculine voice replied, growling like an angry beast.

"Calm down! Stop being so loud or you'll scare him away!" a third voice commanded.

"Yes, Brother…" the other two said in unison.

Sora walked up against the tree and slow peeked around the side of it, only to be met with another pair of oceanic eyes. He let out a silent yelp as he attempted to jump back, but the owner of those eyes had disappeared and reappeared behind him.

"What have we here? A human… with my beloved Velvet Nightmare?" the girlish man spoke smoothly, chuckling gently, "But how _ever_ did you get it…?"

The brunette didn't move once he'd turned to face him, for he had the strange feeling that this guy could be a Vampire. What, with his long, straight silver hair and slit-pupiled oceanic eyes… and a voice much seemingly like an Angel's. He was too beautiful… too smooth… too perfect…

He had to be a Vampire.

Sora opened his mouth to reply, to explain how he acquired the gun so eloquently called the _Velvet Nightmare_, but the other picked up a leather black-gloved hand and easily snatched it from his grasp.

"Now then… tell me, are you an accomplice of that red-haired Werewolf?" the mystery man asked, narrowing those eyes at him.

"No, I'm not." The human answered, narrowing his visible blue eye back at him.

"How did you get my gun, then? You must be, so tell me the truth. Or else, I might have to use _other_ means of getting you to do so."

"I _am_ telling you the truth! I didn't know that guy! He just gave me the gun and ran off!" he protested, just as determined as before.

"_You're lying, Human!!_" the Vampire hissed, shoving him back into the tree and opening his mouth to show off his fangs.

Sora just hissed back; as he did so, the other was able to glimpse two tiny little fangs among his teeth, "Get off'a me!!" He picked up his leg and kicked the Vampire away with his black elf-like shoe.

_It's just a good thing that Naminé was able to make it look like I had Vampire teeth…_ he thought before pulling himself away from the tree and jumping to his left. He'd only just dodged a claw-like punch from the other.

"It doesn't make sense… You reek of Human, but you seem to be a Vampire!"

The silver-haired one let out a roar as he charged for him again and tried to send a barrage of his slashes at him. Sora somehow was able to get out of the way of every one of them, his confidence growing every time another one missed. He jumped up into a back flip, only to find that he'd been too slow. A look of alarm came to his face as a smirk curled on the other's lips. The Vampire slashed the pumpkin-shaped patch on Sora's head in two, causing his Halloween Town 'make-up' to disappear.

His eyes were no longer in shadow thanks to the disappearance of the patch, and those fake fangs were gone as well. He now looked just the way he had when he came… save for the Halloween Town clothes.

"Ah haa… So, you _are_ a Human, after all." The Vampire said, licking his pale lips, "Sweet…"

"Hey, Yazoo! You find 'em?" the masculine voice from before cried from somewhere in the words.

"I found something even better, Loz!" the silver-haired one called Yazoo yelled in reply, rushing forward with inhuman speed.

Sora growled, taking a step back as Yazoo leaped into the air, claw-like fingers reaching out to him. Pushing down on the earth, he jumped backward, only to wind up smashing his back against a hard surface, "Aagh!!"

"About time, Loz… What took you so long?" the Vampire asked, standing up straight in his full-body leather outfit.

Strong arms clamped around Sora's arms and upper torso from behind, letting him know that the hard surface he'd landed himself against was the one Yazoo had been calling Loz.

"I had to stay with our big brother for a while, until he found his sense of direction again and let me come on ahead."

"Grr… Lemme go!!" Sora commanded, wiggling and kicking in a feeble attempt to loosen himself and get away from Loz.

"Sorry, no can do. Y'gotta wait for our big brother to get here, and _then_ we'll decide your fate." The huge one explained, looking down at the brunette with the same oceanic hues that Yazoo had. His hair was in a manlier, shorter cut than Yazoo's, but it was still the same dull silver-grey color as the other.

"Must we await our brother, Loz…? I just… _really_ wanna eat him… _right now_…" the girlish Vampire hissed, his fangs seemingly growing in some length as his eyes began to change from oceanic to crimson red.

"But what if he gets mad…?" Loz asked, making an unsure look.

Since Sora was so close to him, he was able to spot a leather black collar around his captor's neck that matched his full leather outfit (exactly the same outfit as Yazoo). Their attires weren't of the Vampires he knew of; since they wore leather cloaks instead of these jacket-like coats over a leather top and leather pants. They must've been part of some gang or something…

"We won't have to tell him, now, will we? All he knows is that we're after the one who took my precious Velvet Nightmare. That Werewolf who stole it gave it to this Human before hightailing it out of here, so this Human is just a sort of… bystander."

"Well, when you put it _that_ way…"

The human couldn't help feeling a bit frightened as he saw Loz's eyes change to crimson red, as well, and he was still holding onto him. The fear was building up in his Heart, until he watched as the two beings were about to come in to bite him. He bit his lip, shutting his eyes tightly until he felt his fear come up to his throat and cause him to scream.

A bright golden light suddenly began to emanate from the boy, and then it seemed to intensify to the point that it pushed both Loz _and_ Yazoo away from him. He blinked at the sight, looking around his body for the point of which the light was coming from. It was coming from his chest… his _Heart_.

Sora smiled, feeling that same feeling he'd had every time he could summon the Keyblade. He'd just about brought his hand up to his Heart, when a sudden flash of black intruded on his golden glow. All he could feel was a sharp pain in his side and right arm, and then he was sent flying into that familiar dead tree of his.

Gasping for breath to keep himself from crying out, he looked to his right side with one eye open, only to have both his brilliant blue eyes widen in surprise. He had a long gash in his side and a slightly shorter one on his arm, both with blood seeping out of them and running onto his Halloween Town clothes.

"Hey!! Back off, he's mine!!" Yazoo hissed.

"He's mine, too, Yazoo!!" Loz growled.

Sora looked up weakly to watch them, only to watch as a bright aqua-colored power shot them both into trees of their own. His eyes widened again, but with amazement; such power!

The one with that awesome power looked much like Yazoo… except, instead of long silver-grey hair, he had it around shoulder-length. Similar oceanic eyes were on his face and those familiar full-leather clothes were what he wore, as well.

"Guh… What was _that_ for, Kadaj!?" Yazoo asked, pulling himself out of the tree's trunk and staring at the huge mark his body had made in it.

"Forgive me, Big Brother… It was all Yazoo's fault!" Loz tried to explain; Sora noticed that both his and the Vampire's eyes were no longer crimson.

The newcomer, their big brother Kadaj, held a long twin-bladed sword. The human winced at the sight; that must've been what he used to give him these wounds. Kadaj slowly sheathed his weapon, enjoying the gentle **shhhing** sound it made, before staring at the victim of all this.

"Who are you?" he asked, his voice was stern and unmoving.

The spiky-haired brunette gulped before slowly pulling himself up to stand, with the help of the tree, "My name is Sora… Sora Hikari."

Kadaj raised an eyebrow, "I could have guessed about that 'Hikari' part from what I just saw." He looked from one brother to the other before closing his eyes and letting his bangs fall over his face to conceal his eyes, "Why did you attack him…?"

"He had my Velvet Nightmare!" Yazoo said immediately and was about to continue, when Kadaj interrupted.

"_Why_ did he have it?"

"That Werewolf who took it must've given it to him before running off again." Loz continued, recoiling when he saw his big brother shoot a glare at him.

"Why did you care, Kadaj? He's just a Human—" Yazoo started to say, only to be interrupted again.

"Oh, really? Well, guess what, Yazoo…" Kadaj snapped, anger evident on his face, "_I'm_ just a Human, too! And you two used to be, as well! What is _wrong_ with you?!"

Sora blinked, stunned to find out that Loz and Yazoo's big brother was a human… A normal human being, just like himself. Something else felt wrong, though… like that wasn't the whole story.

Yazoo was taken aback by Kadaj's speech; he looked down in shame, "S-sorry… I guess I… forgot about that."

Kadaj folded his arms, "I suggest you try to keep that in mind next time you want to give into your Vampire Powers. You, too, Loz. Don't let that Werewolf's bite take its toll on you."

"Yes, Brother." Was all Loz could say before finally pulling himself away from the tree.

The oldest of the trio was about to speak to Sora, but then there was an ear-piercing screech in the air. All four of them covered their ears, trying to shield themselves from the awful sound. The only it seemed to have an unusual effect on was the big brother himself. Yazoo and Loz just seemed to pass out, while the leader's eyes seemed to be completely white with blankness.

Sora tried to back up, but all he got was a reminder that he was trapped against a tree with a wound. Kadaj unsheathed the double-bladed sword and charged for him. He turned around and rushed the other way; he was only lucky that Kadaj was human and not a Vampire or a Werewolf like his little brothers.

He winced at the pain in his arm, but he knew that he had to fight if he wanted to get out of his mess. Pulling his hand up to his Heart, he felt the warm golden glow there materialize into the Keyblade he liked to call the Oathkeeper. Instantly spinning around to face his opponent, Sora used one foot to push himself forward and clash his Keyblade with Kadaj's Doubleblade.

"Weren't you just defending me a minute ago? Why are we fighting??" he asked, using all his strength to keep the other from pushing him backward.

"The Master commands it. I must do as the Master commands!!" Kadaj answered, that same aqua power filling his Doubleblade and somehow giving him the power to shoot Sora backward, sending him clear _through_ a tree and making him roll backwards several times in the dusty dirt path before stopping.

Sora lay on his back, panting as he struggled to keep a good grip on his Oathkeeper. Forcing himself to his feet with the help of said-Keyblade, he readied himself for another clash. Kadaj suddenly appeared in front of him, and in the blink of an eye, he'd managed to slash Sora's Keyblade out of his grasp and make it disappear in a flash of golden light.

The young human gasped when he felt Kadaj's leather-covered knee knock the air out of him through his stomach, and then at the feeling of a fist punching his face with such a force that he was sent back a few yards. He picked up his good arm and weakly got up into a semi-sitting position, noting that the right side of his face was numb and that his vision was beginning to blur.

His eyes snapped to his wounded side and arm, only to see a thick trail of red blood following him all the way from the tree he'd been knocked into before when Kadaj first appeared. He coughed, looking back up to watch as his enemy ran toward him with that Doubleblade at the ready.

"STOP!!" a familiar voice cried out.

Sora looked up into the sky, only to see a black blur fall down in front of him. When it began to materialize a person, he half-smiled at the sight of shining platinum-silver hair and the hooded cloak of the Vampires he knew so well.

Riku's hands were held out in front of him, a black power somehow creating a long blue sword with a blade that looked like a red bat wing. His power seemed to be building up at the hilt, where a slitted blue demon-eye absorbed it. When it turned to a glowing red color, the sword grew stronger and enabled its wielder and shoved Kadaj and his Doubleblade back to where his brothers were still unconscious.

He turned around, holding the strange demonic sword over his shoulder as he watched his little human friend, "Sorry that I'm late; kinda had to deal with a renegade Werewo—" He stopped talking when he noticed how beat up his best friend was, "Holy shit! I'm later that I thought!"

Riku bent down and held his hands over Sora's wounded right side before closing his eyes and whispering a spell that sounded like, "_Curaga_." Almost right away, the wound closed itself and he was able to feel his face again. The young human smiled brightly, looking up at his Vampiric friend and hopping up to giving him a hug.

"Thanks so much, Riku! I don't know _what_ I would've done if you hadn't've come when you did!"

The Vampire laughed good-naturedly, giving the other a short hug back before pulling himself and his friend up to stand. He pulled his new sword over his shoulder again, almost as if showing it off.

"Whoa… Riku, what's that? Is that… is that a Keyblade!?" Sora asked in wonder, his smile getting even brighter, if possible.

Riku smirked, spinning his new weapon, "You bet it is! Naminé was able to fix the muscle in my arm so I could use weapons again. I guess I never told you that _I_ was a Keyblade Master, too, huh?"

"No, you didn't, but that's okay, because now you're one, too! And I'm not by myself! Well… I was never by myself, because Roxas is one, too, but, you know…" the human began ramble about several things having to do with what and who he knew about the Keyblade.

Riku was just content to listen, until he felt a pulsing in his Keyblade. He looked down at it, jumping a bit in surprise. It was _still_ absorbing his Darkness… the longer he held it, the more it'd grow in strength. He was about to make it disappear, when he felt it suddenly try to take control of him. The slitted demon-eye was turning red, forcing Riku's eyes to do the same.

His fangs grew in length as he picked up his hand which held the blade. His eyes were focused on Sora, until he echoed what the Dark blade was telling me to say, "Ssssora…."

Sora blinked, putting his rambling to a halt and looking at his best friend, only to get scared at the hungry look he was giving him, "R-Riku… wh-what're you…?"

"Haaaaa!!" Riku cried, pulling his Keyblade back to try and attack the other.

The human felt the golden power inside of him and released it, making the Vampire let out a shriek. Sora watched as the other dropped his blade, and watched both the glowing of the sword and his friend's eyes turn back to normal. He blinked when he saw Riku fall down to his knees and pant. Bending down beside him, he went as low as he could so he could look up into his friend's hidden face.

"Riku… where did you get that Keyblade?"

The other shrugged, "I don't know… It just sorta… _came_ to me. I didn't know why, because it wasn't the same one I'd used in the past, before my arms were injured. It just did, so I used it." He looked up so he could stare into the brilliant blue eyes of Hikari, "I think that… it just used _me_."

Sora made a worried look; that wasn't good… How could a blade control its wielder?

"Do you know what it's called?"

Riku nodded, making an equally worried look, "I should have known not to use it… because of its name…" He bit his lip for a moment, turning his oceanic eyes to stare at the blue-and-red Keyblade of the Dark.

"The Souleater."

* * *

Emerald's News & Nonsense:

Whooo! I finally got it together and posted the next chapter! IT TOOK MONTHS! It took FOREVER to come up with the right ideas to put this together! I hope you enjoyed it, and I hope you will forgive me for putting this on hold for SO long!

I'm still in my Pokémon Phase, but I think I can squeeze a bit of **Black Velvet** in every once in a while. X3 I promise that I'll do my very best to keep both this story _and_ **Blossoming of a Rose** going!


	10. 09: Breathless

Disclaimer: Emerald Twin Blade does **not** own Kingdom Hearts or any of its settings or characters.

Emerald's Notes & Nonsense:

BWAHAA! Guess who's back? HALLOWEEN IS AROUND THE CORNER, PEOPLE! I think _this_ could be the Halloween that I finally finish this fic! I'M SORRY FOR TAKING SO LONG WITH THIS CHAPTER! IT TOOK ME SO MANY TRIES TO GET IT TO A WAY THAT I KINDA LIKED!

-cracks up- I need to calm down... I'm only thankful that I have BCIS this semester. Since I complete my Computer assignments so quickly, I have time to write this during class at school! Isn't that great!?

You'll be hearing more from me when it comes to **Black Velvet**, my dearest Readers! ENJOY!

* * *

: Fragment No.09 :

_Breathless_

Sora sighed, shaking his head as he walked down the strangely unfamiliar dead walkway. His Vampiric best friend was trailing somewhere behind him in the shadows. He could _barely_ hear the other's footsteps, and he found it _amazing_ how he couldn't spot his shining platinum silver hair anywhere in this darkness.

As he walked, he turned his head to his left in an attempt to look over his shoulder, "Hey… Riku? Why do you have to… I dunno, sneak around where I can't see you? I kinda feel like… well…"

The brunette's cheeks reddened significantly, obviously visible thanks to the disappearance of his Halloween Town Make-Up. A chuckle from the Vampire echoed in the back of his mind.

"Well, if anyone tries to hurt you, I can protect you… With my being concealed, they'll show up, thinking you alone and defenseless, but then I'll come pop out to slay them. Easy as Black Velvet cake.

Sora laughed, brilliant blue hues brightening in amusement, "Just admit it! You're just scared that the Souleater will take control of you again, so you're keeping your distance in order to keep me safe. _Riiiiight_?"

"… Shut up."

In English, that means _bull's-eye_.

He picked up his arms and bent his elbows to let his fingers entwine together behind his head, crushing a spike or two in his hair. If he had to walk like this with his friend, then he may as well make some friendly conversation, right?

"Riku… what's _Black Velvet_ cake? Back on my world, we have something called _Red Velvet_ cake, and it's really, really yummy!"

Riku's near-silent laughter was audible once more before he replied, "You really love eating, don't you? Well, anything _edible_ for Humans, that is… Anyway, Black Velvet cake is… well, a delicious chocolate cake that is a favorite of all the Vampires. Can you guess why?"

The Human rolled his eyes, grinning grimly, "Let me guess… Instead of icing, they use blood? Or maybe… they use real Human insides to decorate it?"

"No, of course not!" came a disbelieving reply, "We don't hate your race _that_ much! Although, blood _is_ a key ingredient in not only the icing, but the cake itself. It's irresistibly tasty… always garnished with bat wings, and perhaps decorative icing made to create fangs."

As Sora tried to imagine such a cake, he found that it must be quite impressive. Compared to the chefs and bakers back at Destiny Islands, exactly, how well could the ones here in Halloween Town match up? He shrugged, pulling on a full smile.

"It sounds really cool… Would it be bad if _I_ tried to eat it?"

"I don't think it'd harm you… For Vampires, we can sense the blood there. For you, though… You'll probably just taste the chocolate and not even feel the blood unless you dig into the icing a lot."

"Nice…"

_**BOOM!!**_ The two stopped in their tracks, staring straight ahead of them toward what seemed to be a Curly Hill. There, standing on the hill top, was a teen around Sora's age who wore a long, sleeveless, off-white jacket. Beneath the jacket, he was a dark blue top that hugged at upper torso and showed his abs easily. Black pants covered his lower body and black shoes were on his feet.

His eyes were closed as he ran his left hand through his short, slightly spiky blonde hair. His other hand held was looked to be a long silver sword with a gun fused with it. As he lifted his face, a long scar that ran from his forehead down to beneath his right eye became visible. Sapphire blue hues snapped open as he picked up his right arm to point the silver Gunblade at Sora.

Sora bit his lip, taking a step back nervously, "H-hey! What do you think you're doing??"

The stranger just narrowed his eyes before pulling the trigger and shooting out a large fire bullet at him. Before anything else could happen, Riku came out of hiding and shoved the young Human out of the way, landing in a crouched position so that the _Firaga_ attack soared clear over his head.

Oceanic eyes glared back at the Gunblade wielder, watching intently as he awaited the next attack. The other just growled before aiming the long silver weapon at the Vampire, letting loose another _Silver Firaga_.

Sora cried out helplessly, brilliant blue hues open to their widest in fear, "RIKU!!!"

The silver-haired Vampire just scoffed at the attack, putting his right hand to his left side and grabbing an invisible hilt. He pulled his right hand back out to his right side, the Souleater slowly appearing in a smog of darkness. A black haze was over the demon sword as Riku pulled it up to form an oblique slash, and then pulled it back down to send the strange attack back toward its owner.

The stranger's eyes went wide in surprise; how could a Vampire deflect a Silver move? He immediately hopped off of the hill, sliding downward through the dead leaves. The _Silver Firaga_ hit the top of the hill and set it aflame, lighting up the bleak forest.

He growled, running as he slipped toward Riku with his Gunblade held at ready behind him. Riku slide-dashed forth to meet with the other, clanging his Souleater against the Silver weapon.

The two combatants grunted as they tried to push each other's weapon away, but wound up pushing themselves backward, landing themselves an even 6-yards away from each other. The stranger kept himself balanced, making sure not to fall backward or forward and leave himself open for another attack.

"Who _are_ you?" Sora demanded once he was sure his voice wouldn't crack. He'd gotten to his feet and come up to Riku's right side, glaring at the newcomer.

The sleek blonde-haired one raised a curious eyebrow at the spiky-haired brunette, "Seifer… and who're _you_? What's a Human doing with a Vampire?"

"Sora." He replied just as firmly, a hint of defiance in his voice, "And if you must know, this Vampire is my _friend_, so back off! Keep that stupid thing away from him!"

All that the Human said did nothing but make Seifer smirk, and then begin to laugh aloud. He brought his vacant hand up to run it through his sleek, spiky blonde hair after he'd stopped, that smirk still on his face as he set his sapphire eyes upon the other.

Sora kept his eyes focused on Seifer's, but gasped when he saw them flash to gold and then back just as quickly. "YIPES!" he yelped, spinning around to hide behind the silver-haired Vampire, keeping an eye on Seifer from behind him, "H-he's a DarkSide, Riku…!"

"Tch… I could tell from the smell of Darkness on him… It's almost intoxicating…" Bringing up his hand to put on Sora's spiky brown head, he stared at the strange blonde before them, "So… Seifer… would it be a good guess if I said Sephiroth sent you?"

He picked up his Gunblade and held it over his shoulder, staring at its shiny silver surface before replying, "And if it was?"

"Then I have one question for you… Who is Sephiroth after? Sora or _me_?" oceanic hues narrowed threateningly, keeping himself from pulling the young human close to him.

"You have a question… and I have the answer… but I'm not going to give it out." Seifer answered coolly.

"Why, you—!!"

Riku pushed off the ground, leaving Sora unprotected and going straight for the stupid Hunter. Seifer immediately whipped his Gunblade in front of him and aimed at the Vampire, pulling the trigger and sending a _Firaga_ straight toward his face. The silver-haired one had something _else_ in mind, however, as he brought out his Souleater and motioned for a block.

When it looked as if the fiery attack was going to hit him, a _Dark Shield_ was visible all around him, protecting him. With the Hunter-for-hire stunned by the shield's effect, Riku ran in and tackled him back into the hill, before jumping back a half a yard and throwing out several Dark energy balls in an attack called _Dark Aura_.

"Uraaagh!!" Seifer cried out as he was hit by the move, unable to move.

"Alright, Riku! That's the way!" Sora cheered in the background, jumping up into the air with a fist pumped upward.

"Yes… He _is_ doing rather well… even if I do say so myself." A familiar voice said.

The Human froze at the sound of that person's voice, knowing it immediately. Slowly, he turned his head to look over his shoulder, only to see a smirking Yazoo.

_It's that Vampire from earlier!! MAN, they bounce back fast!!_ Sora shouted in his head, turning back around so he could try to run, but, again, he wound up running into Loz's muscle-bound chest.

"Hey there… Haven't we met?"

"Eep!" Sora tried to take a step back, but only found that he was surrounded by the three from before, and Kadaj didn't seem in any better condition than earlier, "U-uhh… R-Riku??"

"Sorry, your Vampire friend is a little preoccupied, if you haven't noticed." Yazoo said, drawing the other's attention.

Sora's turning gave Loz the chance to put his arms around him and restrain him tighter than required. He gave a loud cough upon being grabbed, wiggling around to try and escape. This was worse than last time!!

"What is _wrong_ with you guys!?" he bawled, growling as he tried to get free.

"HEY!! Get away from him!" Riku shouted, pointing his Souleater Keyblade toward Loz and managing to hit him with Dark Aura.

"Raaa!!" he howled, letting go of the Human and turning to glare at the Vampire, "That… _hurt_…"

"Aww… Don't cry, Loz." Yazoo teased, his eyes watching Sora try to get away, "Kadaj, why don't you try that spell?"

"Good idea…" the oldest brother mumbled, blowing his silver bangs out of his face before pointing his own hand toward Sora and calling out the magic word, "_Magnega_!"

"Wh-what the!?" Sora exclaimed as he was suddenly elevated into the air and brought backward toward a strange vortex-looking thing floating in front of Kadaj's hand.

He tried to run away in midair, only accomplishing to slow himself down by a little bit, but in the end, he wound up getting grabbed by the collar by Kadaj's leather-gloved hand.

"Not _this_ again!!"

"Yazoo, do us all a favor and shut him up… I'm getting a migraine." The oldest brother said, his eye twitching.

"With pleasure…" the long silver-haired man said femininely, walking up in front of the Human and grabbing his chin roughly. He forced those determined blue eyes to look straight into his piercing oceanic ones, only to have them flash to blood red.

Sora's frantic struggling and yelling all came to an abrupt stop when this happened, his own eyes going blank. His body went limp in Kadaj's grasp, making a smirk curl onto said-bully's lips.

"Well, we've got what we've come for…" he said as he held Sora in his arms bridal-style, turning around.

Riku, having been dealing with Seifer the whole time, turned around and watched as the three began to retreat, back into the forest. "NO!!" He tried to go after them, clearly seeing that his best friend was being carried away.

"Hold on, we've got a match to finish!" Seifer roared in evil laughter as he aimed his Gunblade at the Vampire's back before shooting another _Silver Firaga_ at him.

This time, the silver-haired Vampire was too slow to react. He'd been turning his head to look, but his back was engulfed by the harmful flames. He let out a painful screech, loud enough for all of the Vampires in Halloween Town to hear.

He fell to his knees, his back steaming from the attack. He groaned in an attempt to keep himself from crying out again; how could he let this happen? The fire had burnt through his leather coat, leaving dark red burn spots upon his pale flesh.

Another laugh from behind him told him that the Hunter was approaching him, Gunblade held at the ready. He couldn't tell what he was doing, but it was then that he felt a sharp pain come across his defenseless back.

"A-aaah!" he gasped, falling forward onto the ground, facing to the side so that he wouldn't hit his nose.

Riku could feel something cold seeping out of him, but what was it? He didn't bleed… well, _blood_, at least. He'd never been cut deeply physically… usually just mentally, or by a weapon that went through skin and messed up what was hidden beneath it.

Just… what _was_ it?

"HIYAH!!" a loud voice cried.

Riku heard Seifer let out a surprised grunt before hearing his body fall to the ground with a **THUD**! Scurrying feet were heard through the dead leaves before worried voices were audible.

"Oh, shit… Riku, what the hell _happened_ to you??"

"Ax… el…" the wounded Vampire said weakly, eyes going blurry every three seconds.

"Riku, hold on!" another, younger voice added.

"You just stay still, Riku. Roxie's gonna fix this up." Axel said in a soft voice, which was a change from his normally loud-as-hell voice.

The spiky golden blonde-haired Vampire rubbed his hands together before holding his hands above Riku's wounded back, "_Curaga_…"

The yellow-and-green healing spell made the injured one's back glow, and after a few seconds, the gash had completely closed up. Roxas and Axel backed up a bit to give their friend room to sit up, both relieved that they'd saved their friend from potential _permanent death_.

The silver-haired Vampire coughed for a moment before sitting up and looking around blankly. However, a second later, he jumped to his feet and shouted, "SORA!! You guys! These three guys came and took Sora—"

**BOOM!!** The three Vampires barely jumped out of the way of the _Silver Firaga_ attack that Seifer had shot out of his Gunblade. Riku slipped and fell to his side, still a bit stunned from the earlier blow to his body.

"Riku!" Roxas called, running to their friend's side before looking to Seifer, only to see Axel taking slow step-after-steps toward him, "Axel…?"

The redhead's pupils were hardly visible in his bright green eyes with how small they'd become; he was blinded with anger… A Human… no, a _DarkSide_, could ever bring such harm to his friend! He swung his arms out straight to either of his sides; his signature silver-and-red chakram appeared in his grasp with a flash of flames.

"You… you _stupid_ little _idiot_…" Axel said in a painfully calm voice, his red bangs covering over his eyes and concealing what he truly felt, "Don't you have _any_ idea who you're _MESSING WITH_!?"

He lifted his head and let out a roar, flaming pillars rising out of the ground all around them, emphasizing his anger. His glare was deadly to the DarkSide known as Seifer, making the clumsy blonde take two steps backward before tripping and falling on his down on his butt.

"I am the Flurry of Dancing Flames!!" he called out his title, forcing his chakram to begin spinning in front of his hands and creating flames along with them, "_I Am Axel_!!!"

With his name finally said, he threw the chakram at the enemy, pillars of flames following after the two entwining weapons until they ran themselves into the shape-shifting monster. Seifer let out the ear-piercing screech of a DarkSide as the flames engulfed him, burning him away into ashes, and then the Darkness he'd been born by.

Roxas helped Riku to stand back up as best he could, considering that the young blonde was quite a bit shorter than the other. Riku groaned, sweating as he did his best to stay awake. He was still weak… the Silver in that _Firaga_ had still sapped his strength, and his condition obviously showed it.

"You guys… You've got to… find Sora…" he said weakly through pants; his vision wasn't getting any better.

"Not until we get you back to safety!" Roxas replied with a determined look on his face, "We're taking you to Naminé, and that's that!"

Before the other could protest, Axel came up to them and pulled Riku's vacant arm around his own shoulder, succeeding in pulling him up to full-length, and possibly a few millimeters off the ground.

"No talking back, now, Riku… You need to get some rest, and Naminé's place is the best for that." He said with a serious tone, "Roxas and I will go find Sora after we drop you off, got it?"

The silver-haired Vampire sighed, nodding as he gave himself over to the more-than-capable strength of his friend. Axel was able to carry him like that easily with Roxas leading the way.

* * *

Emerald's Nonsense: 

It's only 7-pages... It would'a been longer, but this fic wouldn't have many chapters if I did. XD! Anywho, what'cha think? Should I keep going?

... Btw, I'm thinking of revising the beginning... Just to tweak it a bit. The Romance just _swooped_ in. I wasn't planning for this fic to take up a full year. XD!

It's 9:30 PM on September 26th, 2007, People... I usually pass out at 10:00 PM.

G'Night!


	11. 10: The Power of Light

disclaimer: **Emerald Twin Blade** does not own _Kingdom Hearts_ or _Final Fantasy_, or _anything_ that pops up in this fic, EXCEPT! for the plot and idea of it all. BWA HAA!

Emerald's Notes & Nonsense:

Alright! I forced myself to write this chapter before my mojo left again. XP! I LIKE THE IDEA! BLAH! XP

Enjoy!

* * *

**: Fragment No.10 :**

_**The Power of Light**_

The skies got darker as night began to fall, giving Kadaj and his gang the perfect getaway. It was only lucky that they'd talked that gullible DarkSide into keeping Riku busy. With Sora in their grasp, they escaped into the forest.

"Well, _that_ was relatively easy…" Yazoo said, looking to Loz with a toothy smirk.

"Yeah, and the kid just doesn't seem to lear—Kadaj!!" the brute exclaimed with wide eyes.

The two young brothers came to a halt, staring at the steam rising from their older brother's shoulder, where Sora was being held.

"What's going on!? Big brother!!" the Vampire demanded, watching with equally as much surprise as his other brother.

Kadaj groaned slightly, stopping as well and tipping over to the side a bit. He was trying his very best not to drop the Human, but it was burning him so much!

"U-urrgh… gaaah!!" he cried out, spinning himself around and throwing the Human forth as far as he could.

Sora was sent flying far enough that he crashed a hole through a strange wooden cabin there in the woods. He wound up lying on the dirt floor, still very much unconscious.

The short silver-haired maniac panted a bit before forcing himself back up and looking over his shoulder to his brothers with narrowed oceanic eyes, "Let's go…"

The three jogged to the cabin, Loz kicking open the door. Yazoo chuckled, finding it much easier to enter through the hole Sora had made.

"Quite a hole… Nice going, Kadaj."

The older rolled his eyes, pulling a chair out from beneath an old and dusty table and sitting in it, "Now, we wait…"

"Wait? For who? Why did we even need to kidnap the _Human_, anyway?" the long-haired one spat, blinking innocently.

"You really can't guess?" Loz answered with another question, shaking his head.

Yazoo was about to retort, but then there was a blast of wind that forced the creaking, self-closing door to slam open. The air grew cold enough that they could see their breath, and it was then that the dawning of realization came into his eyes. He, however, said nothing.

Many black feathers danced on the freezing wind, spiraling around until they formed the Dark Lord himself… Sephiroth.

Long silver hair swayed as the wind died down to a subtle, chilling breeze. Piercing eyes glared at the leader of his three larvae, a silent command in them.

Kadaj got up from his seat and picked up the prisoner, grunting quietly at the burns he was beginning to receive again. Turning around, he placed the Human down on the long table. Quickly pulling his arms back, he aired them out a bit to make the steam go away. His oceanic eyes looked to the Dark Lord again, only to find him chuckling in amusement.

"I find this boy… to be quite interesting…"

Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz all stared with wide eyes at their creator; how could one such as Sora intrigue the most powerful Vampire around? They exchanged glances with one another before turning their attention back to him.

"I know what you're thinking… but you should already know what this one is capable of… especially you two, _Yazoo_ and _Kadaj_." He said nastily, smirking cruelly at them and forcing them to look away from his superior gaze.

Taking two steps forward, he came up to the foot of the table and looked down upon the fallen Keyblade Master, "This one… controls the Light… No… he _is_ the Light. Long ago, before I slaughtered every Keyblade Wielder in Halloween Town, each one held a different blade… and only that one."

The three listened intently, knowing that this would probably prove useful later.

"But this one… can wield many different Keyblades, depending on his feelings… or the situation. That power is something to be admired… but it's something that could become troublesome in the future." Sephiroth took slow, but long, steps around the table until he'd come up beside the unconscious boy's head.

The chill that emanated from the Dark Lord became cooler to the point that warm breath became frozen in the air. He bent down, closer to the young boy, noticing how his normally tanned skin was slowly turning paler and white. His breath became shaky and his eyes shut tighter, and a moment later his pale lips separated slightly. An uncomfortably hushed groan rolled out of his mouth like a harshly thrown ball slowly coming to a stop, somehow causing a wicked grin to curl on Sephiroth's face.

"This Light must be put out immediately…" he whispered, a blackened aura of Darkness becoming visible all around his form.

The sinister haze branched from its source and covered over the Keyblade Master like a transparent blanket. The boy turned his head to the side away from the Dark Lord, another moan escaping him.

It was then that a golden light flashed at his chest, glittering brightly and breaking down the Darkness that had threatened to imprison him. The three watched in amazement; was the boy so powerful that he could defeat their Dark Lord?

Sephiroth merely shook his head, "I didn't think he'd be able to take on a 5th of my power… He's better than I thought."

A compliment from the most powerful being in Halloween Town? That boy wasn't even _awake_ and he was showing off!

"No matter… Let me try _this_, instead…"

Picking up his hands, his Darkness pooled into two spheres that settled in the palms of his hands. He let out a gentle grunt when he forced the power in his hands to release black bolts of lightning, all of which danced around the Keyblade Wielder until they came into contact with his skin. When one did, the rest followed, and his groans turned into loud screams of pain.

"Hmm… That seems more effective…" Kadaj said calmly, a hand to his chin.

"Why didn't he use this one first?" Loz asked quietly to his older brother.

Sephiroth glared at them out the corner of his eye, silencing them easily. Returning his focus to the slaying of the final Keyblade Master of Light, he smirked wildly as the boy's delicious screams reached his ears.

"Goodbye… _Sora_…" he declared maliciously, pulling up his hands again to send the killing blow of into the bolts.

"Not so fast!" a voice shouted.

The three looked to the hole of which Kadaj had made in the wall, only to see a flaming silver-and-red weapon fly in and slice at the Dark Lord's hands. He swiftly pulled them back, out of the way, but in doing so, lost his focus and the Darkness he'd been using to harm Sora disappeared.

Sephiroth turned his head abruptly, watching the weapon fly back out of the cabin. After a moment, a spiky redhead and a spiky blonde had appeared just outside the gap.

Axel took a step through the hole, dusting off his leather coat, "Man… You guys threw a party and didn't invite me?"

"Axel…" Sephiroth said simply, watching the fiery Vampire.

The Flurry of Dancing Flames looked from Kadaj's gang to the Dark Lord, emerald eyes narrowing as his sense of humor died out, "Sephiroth… What've _you_ got to do with this?"

"You want me to say nothing… but that would be a lie." He smirked, "I have _everything_ to do with this. Now, how about you excuse yourself so I can finish my business?"

"I can't let you do that… 'Cause if I let you go about your business, you'll probably end up killing the kid. If the kid dies, then Roxie dies… So, in a way, it's become my business, too. And guess what? That doesn't work for me!" Axel explained, pulling out his chakram again.

"Do you honestly think that you can defeat me with _those_?" the Dark Lord laughed, folding his arms.

"Maybe not, but these probably can!" Roxas piped up, coming up to Axel's side and pulling out his PumpkinKing and Oblivion Keyblades.

Sephiroth shook his head, "Keyblades, Keyblades, Keyblades… I thought I got rid of them all long ago, but it seems that with the coming of this little problem, they've come up again."

Axel looked down out the corner of his eye to his partner, mumbling through his teeth, "You go after Kadaj and his gang… I'll take care of Sephiroth."

"Righ—wait a minute… Where'd they go?!" Roxas asked, looking to where Kadaj, Yazoo and Loz had been standing.

"They left… I gave them another job to carry out." He pointed out, pulling his hands out of their fold, "I'll be taking my leave now, as well… Sora and I need to wait for our friend to come join us."

Sephiroth bent down and tried to pick up Sora, but wound up causing sparks to fly up at where he'd touched. Pure Darkness trying to touch Pure Light… It obviously wouldn't come out correctly. He glared, trying again, but was actually pushed back a foot or two.

"Having trouble there, Sephy? Heh, heh…" Axel mocked, folding his own arms, "If you can't touch him, I doubt you'll be able to take him anywhere."

Sephiroth grinned, "There's more than one way to skin a cat, my friend…"

Pointing his palm at the boy, he mumbled out a spell, "_Magnega_."

When Axel realized that this particular plan could work, he growled, "Shit!"

The Keyblade Master of Light floated off of the table and was pulled up into the vortex, easily kept inside of it and easily portable.

The Flurry of Dancing Flames spun around in a full circle in the course of taking four steps forward before sending out his chakram and making a fiery rope ensnare the Dark Lord's hand. The spell was cancelled, and before he could hit the ground, Roxas held out his own hand and pulled off the same spell.

Sora came floated over to his two allies, and before Sephiroth could try to cast it again, Axel made the ropes of fire explode. The explosions pushed the Dark Lord backward a bit as smoke filled up the cabin.

Axel picked up Sora and held him bridal-style in his arms, following Roxas out of the building before anything else could happen.

* * *

"Riku, I honestly don't think that… you should be up and out of bed yet." The young witch Naminé spoke worriedly, watching as the injured Vampire paced around the room. 

"I can't help it, Naminé… What if Axel and Roxas couldn't find him? What if Kadaj and the others took Sora to…"

"… _Him_? Listen, Riku… I know you're worried about him and all, but Sora would want you to rest up! He'd want to know that you came out alright after that battle with that DarkSide, and he'd only believe it if you _looked_ it."

The silver-haired Vampire sighed, going back to sit down on the bed, "I guess you're right… but, _God_, I wish I knew if he was okay."

"Shall we take a look, then?" the blonde-haired witch asked, sitting down beside Riku on the bed and holding a crystal ball in her lap, "Lady Aerith has been teaching me a lot lately, and I'm getting better at seeing through crystal balls!"

Riku smiled good-naturedly at the little girl; she was as enthusiastic as Sora when it came to things she thought she was an expert at. With everything else, she was as shy as a fawn in the summer time.

"Sure…"

Pale blue eyes closed as she smiled, turning her head to face down at the crystal ball. Her hands waved over it, her eyes still closed, until a moment later when she opened them, she looked into it.

"I see… Red, blonde, and brown hair… Wait, it's getting clearer… Axel and Roxas found Sora! And they're bringing him back here right now!"

"Really??" Riku asked in astonishment, eyeing the crystal ball and seeing a flash of each hair colors, _Well, well… It looks like Aerith taught her well, after all!_

"Alright! Now that we know he's fine, then—"

"Wait a sec… I see something else coming into view." She said.

Riku raised a silver eyebrow at her, "Huh? What is it?"

"Well… I don't exactly know… I don't know if it's cloudy or what, but I see a lot of silver… And I can see this shop clearly on the side."

The Vampire thought for a moment; silver…? Near the shop… His eyes went wide when he realized, taking the girl quickly by the wrist and pulling her to one of the many closets she had in that particular room.

"Riku, what're you—"

"Stay quiet, Naminé!" he hissed, pushing her inside of a closet that didn't have a handle on the other side, "Don't make any noise!"

Once he closed the door, he dashed back to the bed on silent toes, landing on it on his back and pretending to be asleep. It wasn't hard, seeing as he had control over his eyes and it wasn't like he _needed_ to breathe, anyway.

The main door suddenly burst open, the three men who'd made off with Sora earlier entering the shop, "Hellooo? Anybody here?"

"Shut… up…" Riku mumbled sleepily, turning on his side away from them.

Yazoo looked to Loz and raised an amused eyebrow, Kadaj had been grinning as he took a step forward.

"Is that any way to greet your big brother?"

Riku's oceanic eyes snapped open, glaring at the wall in front of his face, "If anything, I'm _your_ big brother."

He sat up in bed and turned so that he sat Indian-style under the blanket, his right elbow was on his knee and his chin rested in that hand. A grim grin was on his face.

"I was born first… _much_ before the three of you."

Kadaj flicked silver bangs out of his eyes, smiling maniacally at the other, "True, true… but you were created to look 16-years-old, yes? Whereas _we_… look much older than you."

Riku shoved the covers off of his legs and let them hang down over the side of the bed, "Let's cut to the chase, shall we? I highly doubt you three came here to argue over who's the oldest…"

"As a matter of fact, we didn't." Kadaj pointed out.

Yazoo took a step forward, his shoulder touching with his older brother's shoulder, "We've come here under the command of the Dark Lord…"

Loz laughed heartily, "Yeah, he wants you to come back with us."

Riku's grim grin turned into a smile as he slowly stood up, "And if I refuse?"

"Aww… C'mon, Riku… It's just about impossible to refuse a call…" Kadaj explained, taking two diagonal steps forward and using his hands for emphasis, "… from your _Creator_."

"Yeah? Well, I've been able to do it until now, haven't I?"

"He's been tolerant of you… letting you do as you wish…" he shrugged, putting his leather-gloved hands on his hips, "But you have to remember… he has your Heart, Riku… As long as he has that, you can never truly escape him."

The slightly injured Vampire got up from the bed, a growl rumbling in his throat, "What're _your_ excuses, then? All of those lives you've rid Halloween Town of… Was that really for Sephiroth? Or for yourselves?"

Yazoo and Loz looked at each other with guilty faces, although, Kadaj didn't waver.

"That proves right there that you're not totally under his control… We're partly our own person, so all we have to do is get back our other halves to be whole!" he held his hands out to his sides, "Brothers… if we work together, we can do it!"

"Well…" Yazoo began, pulling his arm up so that his hand scratched the back of his head.

"A life without working for Sephiroth… _does_ sound kinda nice…" Loz mumbled, looking away from everybody.

Kadaj growled, turning to face his younger brothers, "Are you two _blind_?! He's trying to turn us against the Dark Lord! Even the four of us put together could _never_ defeat him! And do you know why?!"

Memories suddenly flashed through their heads, and the two who'd nearly become Riku's allies returned to their original fashion.

"What was I thinking…? Nobody could possibly take down the Dark Lord." Yazoo said rather hopelessly, yanking his Velvet Nightmare out of his pocket.

"Yeah!" Loz agreed, turning on the power of his gauntlet.

Kadaj took another step forward, unsheathing his Doubleblade and holding it directly in front of Riku's nose, "Come quietly… or Master Sephiroth will kill your beloved Keyblade Master."

_That_ threat hit Riku in the chest, making it ache painfully, "No…"

"You'll allow him to die, then?" Yazoo gasped fakely.

"What kind of friend are you?" Loz grumbled, folding his arms.

"I said 'No,' because he's already here!" Riku spat, eyes darting to the door, "Axel!! Get Sora away from here!!"

"What!?" Axel's voice shouted from the other side of the door.

"What in the—"

"How'd they get Sora back from the Dark Lord?!"

"Just lucky, I guess!" Riku exclaimed, brandishing his SoulEater Keyblade and jumping forward, "Haa!!"

Kadaj roared as he swung his Doubleblade in front of him to block the Keyblade of the Dark. As the two held the sword in close-quarters, Kadaj noticed Riku's weapon and smirked.

"Haa, haa… You're using the Master's blade… How _ever_ did you get it?"

Riku's oceanic eyes went wide in surprise, "_What_?!"

It was then that a devious laughter seemed to come from the demonic blue eye in the center of the SoulEater's hilt. It began to glow bright red as Darkness pulsated throughout the room. Whatever injuries the four had, they were completely Healed, but the unlucky thing about it was that they all were instantly put under the control of their true leader.

Riku seemed to be the only one trying to fight it. He growled and gripped at his silver hair, attempting to snap himself out of it. His nails grew longer as his eyes began to glow the same color as his Keyblade.

"Raa… Nyaaa!!!" he roared, looking to his brothers and watching them approach him.

The power controlling him was forcing him to stay put in that one spot for them, but he used all of his willpower to make his feet move backward… to back away from them. He _knew_ what would happen if they got to him.

_Stop resisting me, Riku… It was only a matter of time… before I came to get you again._ Sephiroth's voice rang in his head like bell trying to distract him. Another howl came from him as his three younger brothers latched onto his arms, activating the awaiting power of the SoulEater…

They were teleported to the Dark Lord's lair.

* * *

Sora, who had awoken from his trance halfway to Naminé's house, went to the door and pounded on it, looking for a way to open it. It was shut tight, and it sort of burned to the touch. Could some sort of Darkness be keeping it closed? It felt familiar, though… 

"Sora, if Riku said to get you outta here, then we better do what he says!" Axel exclaimed, walking over to the little guy and putting his arms around his waist, picking him up.

"Hey!! Don't pick me up like I'm a freaking rag doll!" Sora barked, pouting, "Riku's in trouble! C'mon, I'm a _lot_ more useful that you think!

"_Raa… Nyaaa!!!"_

"What the Hell? Was that Riku?" Roxas asked, staring at the door.

"RIKU!!!" Sora shouted, managing to weasel his way out of Axel's long, skinny arms and clawing at the door, "Why won't this thing OPEN!?"

A weird light could be seen from the window, and suddenly, the door flew open. Sora nearly fell in, but caught himself before he could. Running around, he looked left and right.

"Riku? Riku!! Where are you?!"

"I don't think… he's here anymore." Roxas said worriedly, looking around.

Axel walked over to the closet, "Uhm… Anybody else hear banging?"

Roxas raised a curious eyebrow, "Check?"

The redhead pulled open the closet door and watched as a petrified Naminé fell out of it. The witch got up to her feet immediately and looked around.

"Riku… S-Sephiroth… K-Kadaj…" she stuttered, looking from Axel to Sora, "S-Sora! T-they came… and took Riku!"

"No…" Sora said quietly, taking a step back. He looked around, seeing a few signs of a struggle, "Those guys who kidnapped me before… came after Riku, too? Why?"

"I think… Sephiroth is really after _you_… b-but he can't touch you, since you're L-Light and all…" Naminé tried to explain, "U-uhm… y-you see… I think… the Dark Lord is going to use Riku… to get to _you_…"

Brilliant blue eyes watched the white witch with anxiety, "Get to me? Why would he want _me_?"

"Your Heart… is Pure Light… S-Sephiroth… might want th-that power… for himself."

* * *

Emerald's Extra Notes: 

Fuuun... What'cha think? I was gonna write past Naminé saying that, but then I realized how freaking hot it is here in my room because of how long I've been on the computer typing this chapter (12:00 to 3:30 pm).

GRAH! See you in the next chapter, which will FOR SURE be posted before Halloween (Wednesday)! I HIGHLY doubt it'll be done before Halloween, but since my mojo for Kingdom Hearts has gone higher than my .hack//G.U. mojo, I'll be doing this fic instead of the other one.

THIS FIC WILL TAKE A LITTLE OVER A YEAR TO FINISH! (It's already been a little over a year, but who's counting? -shifty eyes- NYAH!) Okay, so I'll probably finish this by the end of November, yea? 'Cause I've got an idea for Christmas. LOL!

SEE YOU LATER, PEOPLE!


	12. 11: Collecting Details

disclaimer: **Emerald Twin Blade** does not own _Kingdom Hearts_, or anything in this story, for that matter... Actually, all she owns is the idea/plot! ... and Landon & Skylar. X3!

Emeralds Notes & Nonsense:

Took me a while to finish this... Apparently, my muse for comedy got the best of me. XP! I was writing half of this at school and this dude sitting next to me kept saying, "Make something explode!" And when I _did_, he said, "Not a small one! A _big_ one! Do it again!" And guess what? I left it as it was. XD!

WHAT HAPPENED! -wants to cry- I only got 3 Reviews for Chapter 10! I know I put this fic on a long Hiatus, but it's getting better... isn't it? -cries- IT'S NOT, IS IT!?

-sniffle- Go on, then...

* * *

**: Fragment No.11 :**

_**Collecting Details**_

Sora sat on the side of his bed back at Cloud's place, staring down as his fingers tangled and knotted together. His eyes were glazed over as he thought, but his expression told all who saw it that he was very much confused.

Though Cloud's house was probably the one of the cleanest in Halloween Town, the Human's nose could pick up the scent of the rotting wood that made up both his bed's form and the floor. The walls were of rusted red bricks with cement that stood perfectly in place; at least it _looked_ neat. It was then, however, that a new aroma made itself known to his senses.

The spiky-haired brunette looked up from his thoughts and toward the door, which was wide open. He could see Cloud walking all around the house, spraying something from a long can everywhere. He could hear irritated coughs coming from the Werewolf, which followed after the Warlock and choked out a beg to stop.

"Cloud… Stop spraying the goddamn Vampire Repellant! That stuff may ward off Vampires, but it can still harm Werewolves if there's too much!" Leon growled, coughing profusely.

Cloud laughed mischievously, turning around so that he faced his pet Werewolf. His hands, which held the black can, went behind his back as he bent forward a little bit. His light blue eyes looked up into the other's grey ones with a sincere look in them.

"Oh… it didn't seem to bother you when you were asleep the last time I sprayed it."

The Werewolf's eyes narrowed in suspicion, "What're you…"

Instantly, the Warlock pulled out the spray from behind him and held it out in front of him, pushing down on the top of it. The spray shot out and landed itself into the other's deep grey hues, causing the Werewolf to cry out as he pulled backward, away from whence the spray had come.

"CLOUD!!" he roared angrily, his hands clamping over his eyes, "I'LL KILL YOU!"

The blonde-haired Warlock smirked knowingly, having predicted his pet's movements. Leon scrambled forward, pulling his left hand from his face and readying it in order to punch at his master. Cloud, however, knew this would happen; he jumped backward, easily dodging the harsh blow.

"Aww… Don't be like that, Squall. It doesn't hurt that much…" he teased, leaning to his right side in order to dodge another punch.

"Like _Hell_ it doesn't hurt! You think this is _funny_?" he howled, hopping up into the air in a 180 degree spin, but transforming into his true Werewolf form at 90 degrees. Upon reaching that point, his tail lashed out and smashed into Cloud's shoulder.

The Warlock, caught off guard, was sent through the table of which they ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner at, and landed beneath the window in a sitting position. He winced for a moment when he tried to move, but got over it quickly enough to shoot himself up into the air to avoid getting hit by another of the Werewolf's tail attacks.

His blue eyes focused in on the other's face briefly, noticing that his eyes weren't open. Apparently, the spray was still in effect. That must've meant that Leon was using his remaining senses to fight him. This intrigued him, but he must keep on guard, lest another situation as a moment ago would happen again.

"Are you having fun ruining our house, Squall?" he asked frostily, back flipping out of the way when Leon tried to tackle him and casting a spell, "_Aeroga!_"

A few wind currents became visible around him, and before he could land his feet on the ground, the strong breezes caught him. He now looked as if he were floating in midair.

Leon, who seemed to have been mostly using his sense of smell to find the other, came to an abrupt halt, not knowing where Cloud was anymore. With the winds being called upon, Cloud's scent was now flowing all throughout the house. There was literally no way of finding him at the current moment.

He calmed a bit, growling regrettably.

"There… Are you done now?" Cloud asked, folding his arms.

The Werewolf's ears pricked at the sound of his voice, automatically pinpointing the location of his master. He let out another howl before dashing forward and holding his claw back, ready to slash.

Cloud's eyes narrowed; _apparently not_, he thought. He was about to levitate out of the way, but then he noticed a bright and shining silver power form in his pet's claws. His eyes went wide at the sight; he was calling upon his Silver Gunblade!

"S-Squall!!" he called, watching as he brought down the glowing red Gunblade over his head, "_Reflega!!_"

The protective force field appeared over his form, reflecting the Werewolf's _Firaga_ attack back at him. The spell exploded, sending blackened smoke all throughout the house.

Sora jumped to his feet and leaped for the door, grabbing onto the side of the door and using all of his strength to slam it closed. However, the strength of the explosion sent the door off of its hinges and pushed both it and him backward into the wall, in which the door slammed over _him_.

As the area calmed down and the smoke began to dissipate, Cloud was revealed to be sitting up against the wall, panting. Leon was no longer in his Werewolf form and was lying flat on his back on the floor. The Warlock looked up a bit, his blurring vision focusing and unfocusing several times as the fallen Werewolf came into view.

"Squall… Are you… okay…?" he panted worriedly.

"Fine…" Leon coughed, pulling himself up to sit, "and stop calling me that!"

Cloud chuckled, weakly pushing himself away from the wall to stand up, "Give it a rest, Leon…"

A strange **shing** sound became audible, and the two instantly looked toward where the broken dining table had been. It was in ruins, but stuck into the floor near it was Leon's Silver Gunblade. The Werewolf looked down to his right hand and noticed how burnt it was now; it was almost a wonder that he hadn't felt it until now.

"I think it's time you gave up that old weapon…"

Leon glared at his master, "_What_ did you say?"

Cloud only glared right back, slowly walking toward the weapon, only to be mirrored by the Werewolf, "You're a Werewolf, Squall. It's been too many years since you became one, so why haven't you gotten rid of this thing?"

"It's all I ever had, and even if it does hurt me to use it, if the situation arises again, I _will_ use it." He replied in a stoic manner, reaching out his hand toward the Gunblade just as Cloud had approached it. His will caused it to disappear with a light flash of silver.

The Warlock sighed in defeat, looking around the room from where he stood, "Well, we made quite a mess, didn't we?"

It was then that crashing was heard; they both turned to see Sora's guest room door fall off of the wall and hit the ground, then fall down flat. Sora, however, seemed to be stuck to the bricks that made up the wall.

"A little… help here…" he choked meekly, his eye twitching before he too fell down on top of the door, "Oof…"

* * *

Sora sighed as he walked on toward Naminé's shop house, looking down at his outfit. Apparently, with even just that pumpkin patch gone, his Halloween Town suit really didn't suit him all that much. He looked like a monster who'd stolen a Human's head; although, would the other residents of Halloween Town think so if they saw him? Somehow, he didn't think so.

He knocked on the door, receiving a welcoming _"Come in!_" from the person inside. Pulling the wooden door open, he walked in and gingerly closed it behind him, turning to see that Naminé was nowhere in sight. Instead, a tall witch dressed in mostly magenta clothes was sitting in the chair where Naminé normally sat. She had a long, light brown braid pulled to the front over her shoulder, and bright green eyes watched him from over her pure white tea cup.

The Human tilted his head in confusion; where was the familiar little white witch? And who was this?

A giggle escaped the woman as she closed her eyes and set her tea cup on the tea plate in her lap. Looking up to him, she smiled.

"My name is Aerith; I'm Naminé's… _mentor_, of a sort. It's very nice to meet you, Sora."

Sora just stared at her; how'd she know his name? She looked like a witch, so it didn't take him long to realize she was probably a wiz at fortunetelling and stuff. Cautiously, he approached her, his hands behind his back.

"Same to you… I don't suppose Naminé is around? She supposed to give me back my old clothes." He blushed embarrassed when he tugged at the ridiculous-looking Halloween costume he had on, "This just… isn't really _me_."

Aerith smiled again, nodding as she placed the tea cup and its plate down on a table. Getting up, she motioned toward a door, "She's here."

Not even two seconds later, the door opened, and out came the white witch. Naminé was clutching a load of black clothes with colorful belts attached; Sora smiled when he noticed that they were his clothes.

"Thanks, Naminé!"

She handed over the clothing, looking to her mentor with a shy look.

The magenta-clad witch looked from her student to the boy, "There's something you should know… Your original clothes have been charmed with the same spells cast on your costume. You'll be able to wield the power of the Keyblade easier than normal."

The spiky-haired boy looked to his new friend, "Really? Thank you! It's really a wonder that I couldn't use the Keyblade until I got here to Halloween Town…"

"O-oh, not really…" Naminé piped, "There's naturally a lot more danger here than there probably is back on your world…"

"Speaking of your world, Sora, you'll have to go back soon…" Aerith declared.

"What? But it's only been…"

"A few days, yes, and a few days here is just a few hours on your world, but if you stay here long enough, it's quite possible that you could forget about the Destiny Islands completely and believe you belong here."

Sora made a look of disbelief, "That's impossible…"

"Is it really? How about you tell me the names of your two best friends and what they look like?" Aerith challenged calmly, her serene look unwavering.

"That's easy!" he exclaimed, smiling eagerly, "Cloud and Leon! Cloud had—"

"I meant from _your_ world."

The Human was about to respond when he realized exactly what the witch had meant. He was already forgetting about the people he knew and loved back on Destiny Island…

"Think hard now, Sora… Who are your best friends?" Aerith encouraged, giving him a hopeful look.

Taking a deep breath, Sora closed his eyes and shifted through all his memories. He by-passed his memories of Halloween Town and eventually found the memory of when he brought Riku along to TP his English teacher's house with him.

"A boy and a girl… He had spiky blonde hair… and she had brown hair with the weirdest hairstyle ever." He made out from his mind.

Aerith looked to Naminé and the both of them smiled before looking back at him and asking in unison, "And their names are?"

The brunette boy's eyes snapped open as a wide smile came across his face; he looked at them with an excited gleam in his brilliant blue hues, "Tidus and Selphie!"

"Yes!" the witches laughed, getting up and giving him hugs at the same time.

He also began to laugh as he stumbled back a little at the force of the two girls attaching themselves to him. After that moment, Aerith and Naminé pulled themselves back to their spots. The magenta witch sat in her chair while her apprentice stood at her side.

"Well, now… down to business." Aerith declared, leaning forward so that her elbows were at her knees and her fingers knitted together, "Sora… do you truly wish to save Riku? Even though he's a Vampire… and even if this experience changes the way you look at him?"

Sora tilted his head to the side in confusion; change the way he saw Riku? Nothing could possibly do that…

"Well, of course! Riku is a good friend… who I hold dear to me." he explained, "When we first met, back on the Destiny Islands… we were friends almost instantly! And when he said he had to leave… I couldn't just stay at my house. I followed him to this world where I finally fit in… in this world where I've made so many more friends than I ever thought I could back home. And… it's all thanks to him."

The elder witch smiled pleasantly at him, "It seems… that you are more than worthy to go, then."

"Huh?"

She shook her head, putting her hands down in her lap, "You'll have to go to Sephiroth's Dark Fortress. It's not an easy job to get in on your own, so you'll also need some assistance… Thankfully, that much I can give you."

Suddenly, the door to the shop squeaked open; the three inside turned to see who would enter. A tall and bald man wearing sunglasses entered the shop, behind him followed a familiar person with long red hair in a ponytail.

Sora jumped a bit and turned his body to face them, his eyes completely focused on the redhead, "Hey! I know you!"

The Werewolf smirked, "Well, well! If it isn't the Human from the woods! Kinda surprised that you're still alive with how pissed Yazoo was by my taking his gun... but then again, I'm still pretty surprised that you're the one to try taking on Sephiroth."

The Human pouted at him, opening his mouth to retort, but he was interrupted by Aerith beginning to speak again.

"Sora, this Werewolf is called Reno… A while back, he was quite the thief, so when he was caught, Rude was put in charge of keeping him out of trouble."

"Yeah, and see how well that worked out?" Reno snorted sarcastically.

Rude elbowed him in the arm, successfully getting the other to let out a short whine before shutting up. Sora suppressed a laugh as he looked to the bald Warlock.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Sora. We'll do what we can to help you get into the Fortress." He said solemnly, bowing slightly.

Sora nodded, bowing politely back, "Likewise."

"Well, now that the introductions are done, can we get going now? Breaking into Sephiroth's lair is no picnic!" Reno whined, folding his arms.

"Not yet…" Aerith spoke, looking out the one window of Naminé's house and shop, "There are bound to be many obstacles in your way… I'm sure that the Dark Lord knows you're going to go, so he'll probably set DarkSides, Werewolves, Vampires, and even Nymphs all over his territory in order to keep you out."

"Not a problem!" someone shouted from outside.

Again, the doors flew open as two familiar Vampires entered the building and looked around.

Roxas laughed, "You didn't honestly think you'd keep _us_ out of the briefing, did you, Miss Aerith?"

The witch shook her head, her smile still in place, "Of course not… You arrived just in time, then."

Reno turned around, his eyes coming into contact with the tall, red-haired Vampire's. A smirk curled onto his lips as he stared.

"Oh, my! If it isn't the Flurry of Dancing Flames… what've you been up to lately?"

Axel glared at the Werewolf, "Reno… Just what the hell're _you_ doing here?"

The slightly older redhead wagged a finger at the other, "Tsk, tsk, tsk… You didn't answer my question, Brother. But, if you _must_ know… we've been hired to escort the little Chosen to Sephiroth's Fortress."

Roxas and Sora blinked, looking from Reno to Axel and back several times before shouting in unison, "BROTHERS!?"

"_Oh_, yeah… We were born brothers… but then I got bitten by a Werewolf, and Axey got a Vampire bite… So, here we are now!" Reno explained almost cheerfully.

Axel rolled his eyes, slapping his right hand over his face as he shook his head, "Over 200 years since we last met, and you _still_ haven't changed."

Roxas nudged his best friend's side, a toothy grin on his face, "Kinda reminds me of someone I know…"

"Eh? Who?"

The spiky blonde-haired boy slipped forward a bit at the other's obliviousness before mumbling, "Nevermind…"

"_Any_way," Aerith cleared her throat, getting everyone's attention again, "the main idea here is to have Reno, Rude, Axel, and Roxas go along with you on your journey to save Riku. If anything goes wrong, they'll be there to handle it as you go on."

"What? You mean… I have to leave them behind?" Sora asked worriedly, "I can't do that to a friend…"

"It's only if the obstacle is too difficult to bypass immediately. Should the situation arise, it's your job to go on without us if your true objective is to rescue the Vampire." Rude explained, raising his chin up as he spoke and effectively making himself look much more intimidating than he really was.

Sora lowered his head a little, backing away slightly. This caught Reno's eye, setting his quick tongue off.

"Don't worry 'bout it, Kid; he scares me, too."

An invisible glare was hidden behind black sunglasses, but Reno just chuckled, following the Human's lead to back off.

"Alright, if there are no further questions…" the magenta witch stood up, worry touching her brow, "I'd suggest that you gather appropriate supplies before setting out. Although, Sephiroth's lair isn't that far off, it _will_ be rather hard to break into. You have my best wishes."

"Good luck, everyone!" Naminé piped, bowing to the five men.

With the explanation completed, they all exited and went on to follow Aerith's advice. The two witches, however, stayed in the shop. The younger looked up to her mentor.

"Do you think… everything will come out for the best?"

Aerith picked up her hand and placed it on top of Naminé's head, causing the blonde to smile, "Of course… Everything will come out for the best."


End file.
